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I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. % 

I Chap. ^3 A 

I Shelf .^."^"^S?^ 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 




lA^ 



BEV. M. STONE'S 



SEMI-CENTEMIAL DISCOURSE, 



WITH 



OTHER EXXmCISES ON THE OCCASION. 



REMINISCENCES OF A HALF-CENTURY PASTORATE. 



DISCOURSE. 



DELIVERED 



BY MICAH STOM, SEMOR PASTOE 



OF THE 



EVANGELICAL CHURCH IN BROOKFIELD, :^^ 
March 11, 1§31, 



BEING THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF HIS ORDINATION TO 
THE MINISTRY IN THAT TOWN. 



WITH 



SOME OF THE EXERCISES OF THAT COMMEMORATIVE CELEBRATION. 




WEST BROOKFIELD: 

STEAM PRESS OF O. S. COOKE AND CO. 

1851. 

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SALULATION TO THE SENIOR PASTOR, 



BY THE REV. W. A. NICHOLS. 



VENERABLE PASTOR ; 

Your presence in this sanctuary is an earnest, that our cherished 
anticipations will be made real. For this favor, we would devoutly 
acknowledge our indebtedness to a beneficent providence. As you 
survey this crowded assembly, you see not the identical faces which 
formed the complex expression of interest on the day of your ordi- 
nation vows. Fifty years have wrought conclusive evidence, that 
the fathers do not live forever ; while it is the boon of comparative- 
ly few, to attain your present age. The fathers and mothers of 
1801 are not here, sir, to greet you as the friend of their youth, and 
thank you for your patient labors of love for them and theirs ; but 
we their sons and daughters, have been commissioned, in a course 
of providence, to do their part of this day's work. As their glad 
representatives, we come up to take you by the right hand, and 
call you blessed. We do not congratulate ourselves, as offering to 
you this sacred asylum, as the sanctuary home of your declining 
days ; for it was yours before it was ours. It was yours by higher 
rights than we are able to convey. It is not credulity to believe, 
that these foundation stones were gathered to this place, in answer 
to your prayers, as the spiritual leader of this little flock ; and next to 
the great Builder, the existence of this temple, in which we worship 
the Triune God, doubtless owes more to your wisdom and industry, 
than to any other agent. Most certainly do we concede to you the 
prior right in this house ; as first projected by your faith, reared by 
your perseverance, and finally consecrated by your prayers and doc- 
trine. 

As the representative of this church and society, I greet you thi« 
morning, in the name of those few survivors who adhered to you, 
as their spiritual guide, when the ark of your God had not even a 



tabernacle to rest in. These come up to day, and claim the inner 
circle around their aged pastor's heart. And this place you will 
freely give them, when you remember your mutual joys, and your 
mutual sorrows ; when both you and they had ready occasion to 
keep in mind the saying of our Lord, that " The foxes have holes, 
and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not 
where to lay his head ;" and you his professed followers had no 
abiding sanctuary to which you could repair and seek divine re- 
freshment. 

Accept of this right hand, sir, which I proffer in the name 
of this church and religious society, as now organized to bear the 
burdens of support, and sustain the responsibilities of a Gospel 
institution in this place. Allow me to say, what I cannot withhold 
without blame ; that all who devotedly love these courts, reckon 
^he example, the prayers and counsel of their senior pastor, as among 
he richest deposits of this hallowed place. And we confidently 
trust, that all such will ever be pleased, not only to see you in your 
accustomed place in this worshipping assembly, but also to hear the 
gracious words you may speak, as God shall give you strength and 
occasion. 

And last, though we hope not least of all in your considera- 
tion ; I tender you this right hand in behalf of the junior col- 
leagues, who do now, or have enjoyed your christian society, your 
fatherly advice, and your senior co-operation. Receive this right 
hand, Dear Father, as the external sign of our heart's affection. — 
Few indeed have been the days of our successive union with our 
Patriarchal head ; but amply sufficient, though few, to learn the 
value of our alliance ; and admire, what, alas ! we fear we have not 
sufficiently imitated. But if we have not been made better by this 
relation, we have sustained, we must not only suffer the loss of fail- 
ure, we must also bear the whole blame of losing what lay so fairly 
within our reach. 

True, we have endeavored to preach, after our measure, what 
your Master, and our Master would have us ; and if our ephemeral 
career, as the fleeting junior pastors, does sometimes well nigh over- 
whelm us, with humiliating thoughts of ourselves, it is some relief 
to know, that our brief periods of office may, by contrast, give ad- 
ditional lustre to that constancy, and permanence, under whose 
ehadow we have transiently abode. It now remains for us to say, 



that this day is yours. Of its present scenes, and future chron- 
icle you are to be the greatest part. We have not the palaver to 
say, nor you the vanity to hear it said, that eighty years old, your 
sight is not dimmed, nor your natural force abated. But as God 
still indulges you with an unusual degree of your early vigour, we 
will confidently ask Him, that as this day is to you, so may your 
strength be to perform its labors. 

Speak to us freely of the providence and grace of God in your 
pilgrimage. We will treasure up your words in our hearts, and 
teach them to our children. So will you bless us while you live, 
and leave to us, the legacy of one who has fought the good fight 
and kept the faith, and for whom we confidently trust, there is laid 
up a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, 
will give you at that day. 



SELECTIONS FROM SCRIPTURE, 

BY REV. L. WHITING, PASTOR OF THE SOUTH CHURCH IN READING. 

" O magnify the Lord with mej and let us exalt his name togeth- 
er."(a) — " Bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within me, 
bless his holy name. "(6) — " I will sing of mercy and judgment." 
(c) — "In the day of my trouble, I sought the Lord : my sore ran 
in the night and ceased not, my soul refused to be comforted." (</) 
'' Remember Lord the reproach of thy servants how /do bear in 
my bosom the reproach of all the mighty people, wherewith thine 
enemies have reproached, O Lord, wherewith they have reproached 
the footsteps of thine anointed. "(?) — " I am the man that hath 
seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. "(/") — " False witnesses 
did rise up: they laid to my charge, things that I knew not."(^) 
" For it was not an enemy that reproached me : then I could have 
borne it ; neither was it he that hated me, that did magnify himself 
against me : then I would have hid myself from him. But it was 
thou, a man mine equal, my guide and mine acquaintance. "(A) — 
" But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear 
unto myself that I might finish my course with joy and the ministry 

(a) Ps. 34: 3. (b) Ps. 103: 1. (c) Ps. 101: 1. (d) Ps. 77: 2. 
(e) Ps. 89: 50. (/) Lam. 3 : 1. (g) Ps. 35 : 11. (A) Ps. 55: 12-13. 

1* 



which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the Gospel o{ 
the grace of God."(/) — " For with me it is a very small thing that 
I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment; yea I judge 
not mine ovrn self, but he that judgeth me is the Lord."(j) — 
"Therefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remem- 
brance of these things, though ye know them and be established 
in the present truth. Yea : I think it meet as long as I am in 
this tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in remembrance." 
Moreover I will endeavor that ye may be able after my decease to 
have these things always in remembrance"(Z;). — And I beseech 
you brethren suffer the word of exhortation " (l). — " Let brotherly 
love continue. "(m) — "Live peaceably with all men"(M). — Trust 
in the Lord and do good ; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and 
verily thou shalt be fed." (o). — " I have been young, and now am 
old, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed beg- 
ging bread." (p). — " They that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount 
Zion." {q) — " but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. "(r) 
— " Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a 
good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. "(5). 
— " Finally brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things 
re honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, 
whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report ; 
if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise think on these 
things." (0 

" Behold, here I am, witness against me before the Lord and be- 
fore his annointed, whose ox have I taken ; or whose ass have I 
taken, or whom have I defrauded, or whom have I oppressed, or of 
whose hand have I received a bribe to blind mine eyes therewith. "(«) 

" I have coveted no man's silver or gold or apparel, yea, ye your- 
selves know that these hands have ministered unto my necessities 
and to those that were with me" {v). — " Nor of men sought we 
glory ; neither of you nor yet of others. — " But we were gentle 
among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children, so being affec- 
tionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto 
you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye 

((■) Acts. 20: 13. (j) 1 Cor. 4 : ,'5-4. (Jc) 2 Pet. 1: 12, 13 & 15. 

(/) Heb. 13: 22. (m) Heb. 13: 1. (u) Rom. 12 : 18. 

(0) Ps. 37: 3. (p) Ps. 37: 25. (9) Ps, 125: 1. 

(r) Mat. 10: 22. (s) Phil. 1 : 6, (^ Phil. 4:8. 
{u) 1 Saml. 12: 3. (i) Acts. 20: S3-4. 



were dear unto us."(«j) — " Therefore, my brethren, dearly beloved, 
and longed for, my joy and crown." — " So stand fast in the Lord."(i) 
" For God is my record how greatly 1 long after you all in the 
bowels of Jesus Christ. And this I pray, that your love may 
abound yet more and more in knowledge, and in ail judgment. "(y) 

" Your Fathers where are they ?"(z). — "1 saw your fathers as 
the first ripe in the fig-tree or her first time."(rt) — " We took sweet 
counsel together and walked to the house of God in company. "(i) 
" And behold ye have risen up in your fathers stead. "(c) — " Thine 
own friend and thy father's friend forsake not."(fZ) — " Cast me not 
off in time of old age, forsake me not when my strength faileth."(c) 
" But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last, your care 
of me hath flourished again, wherein ye where also careful, but ye 
lacked opportunity, "(/) 

" And behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth, and 
ye know in all your hearts, and in all your souls, that not one thino- 
hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake 
concerning you."(^) — If there be therefore any consolation in 
Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if 
any bowels of mercies, fulfil ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, hav- 
ing the same love, being of one accord, of one mind."(/«) 

" O remember that my life is wind."(«) — " The eye of him that 
hath seen me, shall see me no more : thine eyes are upon me and I 
am not."(j ) — " My days are like a shadow that declineth."(A;) — 
" For I am now ready to be ofiered, and the time of my departure 
is at hand. I have fought a good fight. 1 have finished my course. 
I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown 
of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge shall give me 
at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them that love his ap- 
pearing." {I). 

(w) 1 Thess. 2: C-8. (.r) Pliil. 4: 1. {y) Phil 1: 8-9. 

(s) Zach. 1: 5. (a) Hos. 9: 10. (6) Ps. 5.5: 14. 

(c) Num.32: 14. {d) Prov. 27: 10. (e) Ps. 71: 9. 

(/) Phil. 4. 10. ((j) Josh. 23: 14. (/i) Phil 2: 1. 

(i) Job. 7: 7. (j) Job. 7: 8. (i) Ps. 102: 11. 

(l) 2 Tim. 4: 6. 



Rev. M. stone, 

Dear Sib, 

The members of the Evangelical Society in 
Brookfield thank you for your able and instructive discourse delivered on the 
the 11th inst., and solicit a copy of the same for publication. 

Very respectfully yours, 



Brookfield, March 12, 1851. 



W. A. NICHOLS, ) Committee 
S. HUTCHINGS, \ of 
L. BLACKMER, j Society. 



Gentlemen of the Committee, 

I readily comply with the desires of 

the Evangelical Society so courteously communicated, and would inform 

you, that a copy of my sermon delivered on the lllh inst., shall shortly be 

furnished for you disposal. A few paragraphs omitted in the delivery, will 

be inserted in the publication of the discourse. 

Yours very respectfully, 

MICAH STONE. 
March 14, 1851. 



REMIMSCENCES OF A HALF-CEOTUM 
PASTORATE. 



2 CORINTHIANS, 4 : 7. 

BUT WE HAVE THIS TREASURE IN EARTHEN" VESSELS, THAT THE 
EXCELLENCY OF THE POWER MIGHT BE OF GOD, AND NOT OF US. 

The treasure here spoken of is the gospel ministry committed 
by God to frail, sinful men, likened to earthen vessels, for the 
purpose, that, by the employment of such feeble instrumentality, 
it might be clearly seen, that the excellent power by which the 
blessed results attending the gospel ministry are effected, belong- 
ed to God, and not to the instruments employed. The aptness 
of the figure to illustrate this important truth, the present time 
will not permit me to notice. Suffice it to elucidate the excel- 
lency cf this poAver, that I advert briefly to a signal instance 
of its earliest manifestation. 

I observe, then, that the Lord Jesus, soon after his ascension 
to glory, having for the work of the ministry received gifts for 
men — yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell 
among them — was pleased to make choice, for the apostolic office 
from among the rebellious, of one, that, by the violence of his 
passions and prejudices, had been excited to madness and had 
greatly distinguished himself in persecuting the disciples of the 
Lord ; and of him to make one of his most distinguished minis- 
ters and successful advocates of his cause. 



10 

To tlie rich and sovereign mercy of God alone did the apostle 
Paul ascribe all that he was as a christian and a christian minis- 
ter, and all his success in preaching the gospel. Not, said he, 
that we (apostles) are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as 
of ourselves ; but our sufficiency is of God. By the grace of 
God I am what what I am. 

Of this ministry, which he had received of the Lord, and of 
his abounding grace, enabling him to perform its services ; he often 
speaks with admiring gratitude and the profoundest self-abasement. 
Unto me, said he, who am less than the least of all saints, is 
this grace given, that I should preach among the gentiles the un- 
searchable riches of Christ. And calling to mind his blind preju- 
dices, his Pharisaical pride and zealous adherence to the traditions 
of the elders, whereby he was impelled mth exceeding madness 
to breathe out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of 
the Lord, he felt constrained in writing to his beloved Timothy, 
to break forth in this grateful acknowledgment : I thank Jesus 
Christ our Lord, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into 
the ministry, who was before a blasphemer, and a persecuter and 
injurious. But, said he, I obtained mercy, because I did it igno- 
rantly in unbelief. And the grace of our Lord was exceeding 
abundant with faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus. And de- 
sirous of leaving with his friend, and transmitting to succeeding 
generations his living and his dying testimony to the power and 
excellence of redeeming love and of his own unspeakable obliga- 
tion to the same, he made this ever memorable declaration : This 
is a faitJiful sa^jing, and ivorthy of all acceptation, that Jesus 
Christ came into the world to save sinners, of ivhom I am chief 
And then, for the comforting of all the erring like himself, he sub- 
joined the pmyose for which such signal grace was vouchsafed to 
him. Howbeit, for this cause, I obtain mercy. That in me, first, 
Jesus Christ might show forth all long suffering, for a pattern to 
them who should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. And 
having made this grateful memorial to the distinguishing love of 
his Lord and Saviour, he closed with a devout ascription to Him 
as the Supreme Ruler. Now unto the King eternal, immortal. 



11 

invisible, the only wise God, be glory and honor for ever and 
ever. Amen. 

0, glorious apostle, illustrious pattern of believers ; surpassing 
of model christian ministers ! How should we admire and adore 
that all-sufficient grace, so freely, so richly dispensed to thee ! 

0, the excellent, the wonder-working power of the Redeemer ; 
that could transform the cMef of sinners to a pre-eminent saint ; 
— and that of an earthen vessel could make a resplendent lamp, 
to light a dark and perishing world on the way to immortal life 
and blessedness ! 

I have extended these remarks on the ministry of the apostle 
Paul, perhaps too far for the occasion, because it was delightful 
and comforting to contemplate so signal a display of divine mer- 
cy and grace to one of our lost and erring fellow mortals ; — be- 
cause it afforded an affecting exemplification of -the incompetency 
of our fallen humanity, however brilliant with genius and learn- 
ing, to discover and effectuate its own salvation ; and, without 
special divine aid, to administer the grace of the gospel to the 
salvation of its fellow sinners ; — but more especially, because in 
the review of my ministry, to which the present occasion leads, I 
have felt encouraged, by the example of the great apostle, to 
speak with freedom of my own deficiencies and errors ; that like 
him, I may more sensibly feel my immense obligations to my infi- 
nitely condescending and compassionate Redeemer, who, I would 
hope, as in his instance, so also in mine, has graciously shined in 
my heart to give 7ne the light of the knowledge of the glory of 
God in the face of Jesus Christ ; and that the portraying of my 
past errors may be of some profit to my younger brethren, still 
to live and pursue their course in this bewildering world. 

I entered upon ray ministry in this place at the commencement 
of the last half-century ; and was ordained March 11, 1801 ; be- 
ing then thirty years of age. 

During the revolutions of years that have since passed over 
us, many and signal changes, in the progress of events, have 
taken place, not solely in respect to myself and the religious 
community over which I was settled ; but in reference to the 



12 

pastors and churches generally of our connexion. And in regard 
to our country and the wide world, the developments and changes 
of this period have been most wonderful and surpassing. 

" Tempora mutantur, et nos mutamur in illis." 

Before proceeding to notice the changes that have taken place 
in my humble sphere of action, allow me to glance, for a few mo- 
ments, at some of the magnificent developments of divine provi- 
dence that have surprised and enriched the world during this re- 
markable period We may say with propriety, that under the di- 
rection of the Almighty, Time is the great revolutionizer, 
commuting, transforming, and carrying forward the afiairs and 
fortunes of men to their appointed destiny. Or, I may adopt 
the figure of the Psalmist, and say, Time is the chariot of the 
Lord, in which he rides forth on the circuit of his universal gov- 
ernment, to dispense his favors and to administer justice, to indi- 
viduals and communities, as in infinite wisdom he sees their vari- 
ous characters and circumstances require, for the manifestation of 
his perfections and the honor of his government. Not only is he 
cognitive of the external condition and conduct of men ; but he 
looks upon their hearts, and is perfectly acquainted with the feel- 
ings, the purposes and motives from whence their actions spring. 
And while He invariably loves righteousness and hates iniquity, 
He holds at his command all the instrumentalities of nature, of 
men and of angels, through which he moves on his vast affairs in 
reference to individuals, to churches, to nations ; and accomplishes 
with unerring certainty, his designs of mercy and of judgment. 

As we look over the disclosures of the last half century, in re- 
lation to the world, to nations, to churches and smaller communi- 
nities, may we not discern, and shall we not acknowledge,' that 
the divine hand has superintended and is directing them all, with 
their manifold results, to a glorious consummation? Who but 
God, during this period has inspired man with unwonted wisdom 
to explore the wonderful powers, that lay concealed and treasured 
up in the elements of nature and in the human mind ; and with 
skill, when discovered, to apply them to the purposes of art, of 
industry, of civilization, and human weals — of correcting the 



13 

errors of past ages, of alleviating the burdens, and mitigating the 
sorrows of oppressed humanity — of loosening the bands of "wick- 
edness and giving an unusual impulse to the minds of men ; — 
thereby, as it would seem, bringing forward the acceptable year 
of the Lord, and the day of God's vengeance upon the oppres- 
sors ; when liberty shall be proclaimed to the captives, and the 
opening of the prisons to them that are bound ? 

Who but God, has distributed to men the wondrous faculty of 
making the winds, the waters, the fire, the electric fluid, the levia- 
than cars, to become their obedient servants in administerins to 
their ten thousand wants, their pleasures and their profits ; to con- 
vey their persons and circulate information with lightning speed 
from place to place, and scatter blessings round a smiling land ? 
Or, who but he, loosening his grasp upon these mighty energies, has 
made them the ministers of his justice to execute his wrath on in- 
dividuals and nations, that lead an atheist life ? — Or still, to strike 
the world with awe, and proclaim his sovereign right over life and 
property, has made these the instruments of his power to involve 
the innocent and the guilty, together with their choicest treasures 
in a common destruction. 

Look where we will, we sh^ll perceive, that during this period, 
progress has been wonderfully made in almost every department 
of human skill and enterprise, — of education — of higher and 
wider extension of science and general information — of christian 
philanthropy, and, very especially, of an awakened desire to give 
the gospel of Christ to the benighted and perishing of our race. 
In his good providence, God has bestowed on this period an un- 
common spirit of activity, of invention, of anew combining and 
modifying the physical forces ; of forming new and eflScient asso- 
ciations of men for carrying into effect the great purposes he has- 
assigned them to accomplish. The recent facilities for intercom- 
munication between distant nations and remotest parts of our 
widely extended country with each and all other, have occasioned 
a marvellous reduction, as it were, of time and s'pace ; and not 
only cementing the individual States of our great confederacy in 
stronger bonds of union, but bringing all nations of the earth 



14 

into a sort of social or family neighborhood. Nor is the admira- 
ble enlargement and new modeling of the Postal Institution, and 
the unexampled multiplication of the religious and secular presses 
less wonderful within this period — changing, in a measure, the 
centres of information from unity to ubiquity — bringing news from 
all nations, and the remotest portions of our country, to every 
man's door, if only he is pleased to open it for its reception ; and by 
these various improvements, to circulate their arts and their labors, 
and give comfort and plenty to mankind. 

And when we contemplate the benevolent enterjjrises that have 
been entered upon and are extending their benign influences in 
the world, as the Bible Society, Domestic and Foreign Missions, 
the Tract Society and Colporteurage, the Education and Seamen's 
Friend Societies, and various others, how shall we regard them 
otherwise than as manifestations of God's providential goodness, 
opening new channels, in which the waters of the river of life 
may flow to the remotest regions of our dying world ; and that he 
is giving new vigor and fertihty to the tree of life on its banks, 
which is yielding its fruit every month, and the leaves thereof are 
for the healing of the nations. How wonderfully are God's ope- 
rations of mercy and of judgment carried on over the world, as it 
were, before our eyes ! When we look at the nations of Europe 
struggling against oppressive dynasties — agitated by internal dis- 
sensions and revolutions, and the crushed inhabitants fleeing by 
tens and hundreds of thousands, for an asylum to our free and hap- 
pier country, shall we not be sensible that the Most High ruleth 
in the kingdoms of men — that he is working out the overturnings 
and changes, foreshown in his Word, for the redemption of our 
world from sin and superstition, misrule and oppression, and for 
introducing the glorious reign of the Prince op Peace. 

*' Happy the man, who sees a God employed 
In all the good and ill that checker life ; 
Resolving all events, with their effects 
And manifold results, into the will 
And arbitration wise of the Supreme ! " 



15 

In this light I desire now to look over some of the events of 
my personal history, particularly of the last half century ; as in 
the hand of Grod they have been instrumental in bringing about 
the changes with the results that have befallen me and the people 
connected with my ministry. 

The subject of discourse is indeed a very humble one ; and but 
for its connection with the vast whole of the divine administration, 
would be unworthy, my hearers, of your assembling. I feel con- 
fident, however, that in your estimation, the dealings of God with 
an individual and a single church will not be regarded as isolated 
events, " but parts of one stupendous whole." — For this reason 
you have come to hear what God has done for us, a small portion 
of his universal church. 

" To Him no high, no low, no great, no small ; 
He bounds, connects, and equals all." 

And permit me, my reverend brethren and christian friends, 
who have come to sympathise with us on this our social gathering, 
to tender to you our grateful thanks for your present greetings 
and your past kindnesses ; while I sohcit your indulgent attention 
to what I may offer in my present attempt to trace the finger of 
God in the dispensations of his providence respecting myself and 
the people connected with me during the fifty years of my pas- 
torate. 

The society over which I was ordained, was then denominated 
the third precinct, or south parish, in Brookfield. The three 
Brookfields, as they now are distinct towns, then constituted only 
one town. The third, or south parish, comprised, what with some 
small exceptions, is now contained in the topographical limits of 
the present town of Brookfield. 

There was then no other denomination of professing christians 
within its bounds, except a small Baptist church, which has since 
greatly increased, in the flourishing village that has sprung up in 
East Brookfield. 

The inhabitants, usually attending public worship at the South 
Parish meetinghouse, had sat very quietly, for upwards of forty 



16 

years, under the ministrj of my venerable predecessor, the Rev. 
Dr. Nathan Fiske. He held a respectable standing among his 
clerical brethren ; -was esteemed by the people of his charge and 
the religious community as a learned divine, and acceptable 
preacher, a reputable author and very amiable and worthy man. 

The Congregational clergy, with which he associated in bonds 
of brotherhood, were a much revered and honored class of men, 
holding rank among the most cultivated and influential in society. 
Being called by their duties to mingle much with the people and 
minister to them in the most interesting concerns of Ufe, they 
were held in high esteem for their learning, probity and sacred 
office. 

Although there was a fraternal union existing among this con- 
nection of ministers, there was, at the same time, an undefined 
line of distinction pervading the body, which discriminated them 
as Calvinistic or orthodox, and those professing more liberal senti- 
ments. Of the latter description, I suppose, Dr. Fiske was gen- 
erally regarded. 

When in the autumn of 1799 he was suddenly called by death 
to rest from his labors, the people of the parish, in suitable time, 
took measures for the settlement of another minister, and gave 
an invitation to a candidate by the name of Averill ; but were 
disappointed, in the providence of God, of obtaining him, by his 
sudden death on the day appointed for his ordination. They af- 
terwards applied to me to preach as a candidate. Having sup- 
phed their pulpit four Sabbaths, the church and society gave me 
a unanimous call to settle with them in the ministry ; regarding 
me, I doubt not, as harmonizing in religious sentiments with their 
former minister, and with themselves in the liberal views of Chris- 
tianity generally prevalent ; — in other words, that I was of the 
liberal class. 

In this, it becomes me to acknowledge, that as the expression 
was then understood, they were not incorrect. Still, however, it 
should be remembered, that the liberalism of that day was in sev- 
eral respects dififerent from what it has becomo in its later de- 
velopments. The advocates of liberal sentiments had not then 



17 

assumed a distinct denominational name. Their position^ as to 
christian doctrines, was not defined or declared. Nor was there 
any separation^ as to the communion and interchange of ministe- 
rial offices, as has since taken place. Their claim to the liberality 
they avowed was not so much on account of the peculiar doctrines 
they advocated, as for a more liberal spirit of judging and com- 
muning with differing denominations of christians, however Ihey 
might disagree on disputed points in theology and Scripture inter- 
pretations. They disclaimed any express formula of christian 
doctrines, and opposed the adoption of, or subscription to, any con- 
fession of faith ; and contended that the truths of God's Word 
were to be held in the language of Scripture ; and that every one 
was to be his own interpreter. 

The appellation of Unitarianism was then unheard of and 
scarcely known among the people of New England. The doc- 
trines of a Trinity in the godhead, of the divinity of Christ, and 
atonement by his blood, the personality of the Holy Ghost and 
the necessity of his special operation in renewing and sanctifying 
the hearts of sinners, were seldom, if ever, denied, and never 
controverted, in the pulpits of the liberal. Whatever were their 
sentiments on these points, and of native depravity, and the sov- 
ereignty of God in the dispensing of his grace, they were not 
avowed in their preaching. The only instances, that I recollect, 
of a public disavowal, at that time, of the proper deity of Jesus 
Christ, were those of two clergymen in Boston, the one an Arian, 
the other a Socinian. There were others, no doubt, both clergy- 
men and laymen, that embraced like sentiments and disclosed 
them to their friends in private, but did not in public avow them. 

The common method was to leave all controverted subjects un- 
noticed in preaching, or mentioned only in Scripture language 
and equivocal terms, without defining the sense in which the 
words were to be taken. Such topics were considered too mys- 
terious to be intelligibly and profitably discussed before a popular 
audience ; and as not essential to be believed in order to salva- 
tion. The prevailing practice was to confine the instructions of 
the pulpit to uncontroverted and practical subjects. 



18 

It is however but justice to say of many of this class of minis- 
ters, that although they were not clear and established in the 
evangelical doctrines, they yet saw them in a glimmering light ; 
and were more sound in their prayers than in their pr^acAiw^ ; 
that when they inculcated salvation on Arminian ground of icork 
and rvin, they prayed like Calvinists, who felt their dependence 
on the grace of God to save them ; and that while they were in 
some darkness and doubt respecting the nature and use of Christ's 
atonement and righteousness in the affair of the sinner's justifica- 
tion, they celebrated the death of Christ in the ordinance of the 
Supper, as the only ground of pardon and acceptance with God. 
The special influences of the Spirit had long been withheld, or 
poured out only in limited measures. And while the Bridegroom 
tarried they all slumbered and slept. A dimness and drowsiness 
and inaction came over the pastors and churches, so that the fun- 
damental doctrines of the gospel were indistinctly seen in their 
soul-humbling and sanctifying efficacy. The helplessness of man 
in his fallen nature being imperfectly seen, or wholly "discarded, 
and his native powers unduly magnified, it introduced into many 
pulpits a course of instruction which left the hearers to a lamenta- 
ble degree insensible to their lost condition, and the need in which 
they stood of the Spirit's power, and of sovereign grace, to arouse 
their slumbering consciences, and awaken them to newness of life 
and new obedience. 

While then an obscure and unpractised theology was extensively 
gaining ground among the churches, and greater allowances were 
inculcated for diversities of religious belief, the duty of charity 
was urged as the cardinal virtue — the crowning grace of the 
christian character — that would cancel all errors, and cover the 
multitude of sins. And hence, for the exercise of this preeminent 
excellence as it Avas considered, various pleas were urged ; as the 
harmlessness of error, when sincerely embraced ; — the incompe- 
tency of fallible men to judge, or pronounce decisively, respecting 
the mysterious doctrines of Christianity ; — the unreasonableness 
of expecting, that amid the various contingencies of their being 
and education, men should any more believe alike on religious 



19 

subjects, than that they should look alike in their persons. The 
not according to all professors an equal claim to the christian 
character, however diverse might be their belief, was denounced 
by not a few as censoriousness — a virtual invasion of a brother 
christian's right to judge for himself what is truth and error ; and 
was of a nature to interrupt the harmony and fellowship which 
should characterize the subjects of that christian charity, which 
believeth all things, hopeth all things. In short, that presuming 
to judge of the correctness of another's behef and his meetness 
for christian fellowship was a virtual assumption of the divine 
prerogative ; as none but God could know the hearts of men, or 
what allowances were to be made for differing opinions. 

Such, in the outhne, was the liberalism of the time to which I 
refer. In many I am persuaded it ought to be regarded, not so 
properly a denial, as a not discerning, of the peculiar doctrines of 
tli^e gospel, obscured as they were by early prejudices and mis- 
guiding philosophy. 

To the inexperienced and unenlightened in the controversies of 
theology, like myself, these liberal views had some plausible pre- 
tences and fascinating bewilderments. They assumed a seeming- 
ly generous regard to the liberty and rights of men. And while 
they extolled and flattered human reason, how much soever they 
disparaged divine revelation, they repressed the fear of being fa- 
tally deceived ; because they were sincere in what they believed 
and taught. At the same time, the opinions, by which they were 
led, were of a nature to divert the eye of the inquirer from the 
pole-star of the Scriptures, and to fix its gaze too intensely on 
others, that were but ivandering stars. 

In such a state of the religious community, having resided 
some two years at the University in Cambridge, and having pur- 
sued my theological inquiries under the advice and guidance of 
clerical friends mostly of the liberal class, and not under the in- 
structions of theological professors — for theological institutions 
did not then exist — ^being licensed to preach the gospel by the 
association of ministers in and about Cambridge, I was permitted 
to enter the sacred ministry with the unanimous approval or con- 



20 

sent of an ecclesiastical council composed of pastors and delegates 
of both descriptions referred to. And this, I trust, God suflfered 
to take place, that by the transitions, through which he designed 
me to pass, he might effectually convince me of my errors, and 
that I had my treasure in an earthen vessel, — rthat the excellency 
of the power that was to correct my mistakes and furnish me to 
the sacred woi^k was Ids and not mine. And I desire to bless 
his name, I have ground to hope, that in some good measure, he 
has done this. More thorough examination, with time and expe- 
rience, through the teachings of the Holy Spirit, have fully con. 
vinced me, that the great mystery of godliness, as presented to 
our acceptance in the Scriptures, is not first to be measured by 
the line of human reason, but humbly received on the testimony 
of Grod ; and that neither scripture nor reason afford any ground 
to deem any portion of God's word to be useless, or unimportant, 
to be prayerfully studied and faithfully inculcated on all who 
come to hear the gospel for the purposes of vital piety and prac- 
tical sacredness ; that vain man, pretending to be wise, never 
put forth a more preposterous maxim than this, " That religion 
ends where mystery begins.''^ Nor is the pretence any more 
sound, " That any modes of faith 1^'' however various and conflict- 
ing, " cannot be wrong, whose life is in the right." It is absurd 
to believe, that any one^s life can be in the right, whose heart is 
not right ivith Grod, — is unreconciled to his character and govern- 
ment. Sincerity in error is no guaranty against the evil to which 
it unavoidably, although it may be insensibly, leads. Through a 
deceived heart men may as sincerely embrace error as truth, and 
die zvith a lie in their right hand. And it will always remain an 
established verity, that the hearts of believers are sanctified by 
the truth ; and that by the truth as it is in Jesus are they made 
wise unto salvation. 

And here I rejoice to say, that if in my earlier days I was in- 
clined to know Christ and the teachings of his word, after the 
traditions of men and worldly philosophy, I have since been taught 
to know him so no more. And it is without hesitation, and with 
much satisfaction, I can declare, that those evangelical doctrines 



21 

which once seemed to me dark and incomprehensible, now, in 
their discovered connection and harmony, appear, not only free 
from doubtfulness, but luminous and precious as the light — are 
the confidence and rejoicing of my heart — the foundation of all 
my trust and hopes. And I desire to bless God, that however 
unfurnished and unworthily I entered the ministry, I trust I may 
now say with Paul, I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly 
in unbelief. 

It was not, however, my favored lot to have the sun of right- 
eousness rise upon me, as it did on him, with more than mid-day 
splendors, revealing the character and the grace of the glorious 
Emanuel, with such brightness and power, as to penetrate and fill 
his whole soul with divine light and love — changing, as in an in- 
stant, the furious persecutor into as zealous a promoter and de- 
fender of the christian faith. 

But God, who does all things after the counsel of his own will, 
was pleased, by the same sun of righteousness, although in a very 
difierent manner, " to shine upon the road that led me to the 
Lamb " — led me to see him, in nautical phrase, in the dear oh- 
scure — dearly as the Lamb of God, that taheth away the sin of 
the world — obscurely, as to his mysterious person of God-man ; — 
convincing me, at the same time, of the truth and necessity of 
this marvellous union of his deity with humanity — of his humani- 
ty, that he might suffer an expiatory death for the sins of his peo- 
ple ; * and of his deity, that he might afibrd a sure foundation of 
reliance to all who should venture on his promised grace ; that 
none might depend on any short of an infinite, almighty Savior.f 
And may I say the method of his leading me is shadowed in the 
Latin sentence " Stilla cavat lapidcm, non vi, sed scepe caden- 
do,^^ which, in an accommodated version, may be rendered, 

The Lord, at once, my soul appalling, 
Did not by might the stone efface, 
But by his grace repeated falling : 
He, too, impressed his imaged face 
By oft descending drops of grace. 
The spinY saved :J but not the letter ; 
And, oh ! to grace how much a debtor. 

* See Heb. ii : 14—18. t See Matt. xvi. : 16—18 ; John i : 1—4 ; 

2 Tim. i : 12. J 2 Cor. ill : 6. 



22 

In the position of a humble and prayerful inquirer sitting, like 
Mary, at the feet of Jesus, and receiving his word without gain- 
saying, I trust, I may say with truth, it has been my sincere en- 
deavor, by the grace of God, to secure my own and promote the 
salvation of my charge, according to the light which he afforded 
from his word. 



A suspension of the discourse was here made while the choir 
sang the 71st psalm, 2d part Church Psalmody. 



Having noticed the religious state of the community, in which, 
I passed my novitiate, and the theological views with which I 
entered the ministry, I will now briefly advert to the state of the 
church and society in this place, at the time of my becoming their 
minister. 

In looking down the vista of half a century, I am sensibly im- 
pressed with the almost entire change of the population, which, 
with unusual demonstrations of favor, invited me to their service 
and fellowship. Of the many, that were engaged in that concern, 
very few are remaining. The flourishing families, then spread 
through this village and other parts of the parish — the parishion- 
ers, who on my marriage escorted us to, or welcomed us at, our 
gladdened home — where are they ? — Gone to their silent man- 
sions in the grave, or dispersed to other i-egions. 

Of the church, when I became its pastor, consisting of 26 
male and 48 female members, not one is now alive. — I remember 
them still with interest, as the people of my first love, whose 
warm attachment and liberal bounty engaged my hearty regard. 
Like most other parishes they respected the ministry, and sought 
a minister, if not as an ascension-gift of tlic Savior, yet as requi- 
site to their prosperity and well being. 

They entertained, I apprehend, a general assent to the truth 
of the Bible, but, as a people, were not discriminating in their 



23 

views of the christian doctrines. Earnest, vital religion was tvith 
them, at this time, as in most of the churches, in a low and lan- 
guishing condition. Since the gathering of the church in 1756, 
there never had been any special revival of religion. And, what 
is unpleasant to relate, there was prevalent here, as in many 
other places, an unhappy prejudice against revivals, as leading to 
enthusiasm and disorder ; an evil that sprung up more than a 
century ago amid the extraordinary revivals in the time of Ed- 
wards and Whitefield. 

Professors of religion, I apprehend, more generally maintained 
family worship ; but there were not those in the church who 
would lead in the devotion of a social meeting, or conduct a re- 
ligious service, in the absence of the minister. — The far greater 
portion of the society made no other profession of their Christi- 
anity than by their attendance on public worship. During a 
ministry of 41 years among a people numbering some 1000 or 
1200 souls, only 110 made a public profession of their faith, and 
88 professed the half-way covenant. — And, what is much to be 
lamented in any society, the more influential citizens, although 
respectable and honored in civil life, did not exert an equally 
open and decisive influence in the religious community. 

At the time of which I am speaking, it was customary to at- 
tend only a morning and afternoon exercise on the Sabbath. 
There were then no social meetings during the week, for religious, 
moral, and benevolent purposes, except on some extra occasions ; 
■ — no other than the lecture preparatory, once in two months, to 
the observance of the Lord's Supper. — This ordinance, when 
administered, was in the intermission, after the morning services, 
when the congregation had retired ; as though the commemorating 
the death of Christ was uninteresting, and no concern of theirs. — 
There were then no stated meetings of the church for conference ; 
prayer, and church action. And although it was customary to 
have social gatherings in the evening for festivity and amuse- 
ments, yet such assemblages for prayer and christian edification, 
were regarded with disfavor and were stigmatized as night- 
meetings. 



24 

There were at this time no Sabbath Schools in existence. 
Nor was there but little attention paid by the parents generally 
to the instruction of the children from the catechism. That ven- 
erable compend of christian doctrines and duties had fallen into 
general neglect. I attempted to have the practice of catecheti- 
cal mstruction revived, by having the Assembly's Catechism in- 
troduced and taught in the schools, as also to have the Bible daily 
read in the schools. But it was without success. The disincli- 
nation to the measure was so great as to amount to opposition. 
Indeed, one school district, at a pubhc meeting, did pass a vote, 
" That the eatecJdse should not be taught, and that the Bible 
should not be read in the schools." The ordinary means of re- 
ligious and literary improvement, besides those of the Sabbalh 
and the sanctuary, were small and inferior to what are now en- 
joyed. There were then no religious newspapers, and very few 
other periodicals of any description in circulation ; no S. S. Li- 
braries, no tracts and small publications specially accommodated 
to the capacities of children and the different classes of readers ; 
and the social library, but poorly adapted to the taste and exi- 
gence of the common readers, had lost its interest, and at length 
was sold. 

Contemplating the state of society fifty years ago, as it existed 
in this and most of our towns, we cannot but perceive, that im- 
portant advances have been made in the means of mental culture 
and of literary and moral attainments. The views and standard 
respecting education in our common schools and higher institutions 
of learning, are greatly elevated above what they Avere at the 
time referred to. Not only have all the school houses in this 
place been newly built, on improved models, but the system and 
mode of instruction have been greatly enlarged and improved, and 
superior qualifications in the teachers required and obtained. 
The pubhcations of the religious and secular presses, as also the 
practice of lecturing on most subjects, have increased marvellous 
ly, if not to redundance, and have excited a general desire in the 
public mind for advance in knowledge and an acquaintance with 
the transactions of the world and the actors on the public stage. 



25 

Brookfield, or the South Parish, as it was then called; was, a 
little previous to mj coming to the place, more noted than most 
of the towns around, as a place of business and refinement, to 
which many from the adjacent towns resorted for the purchase of 
necessary articles. There was here a law-school sustained for 
some years, to Ayhich a considerable number of young men resort- 
ed for the study of the law. During several years, a Lyceum, 
or Society for mutual improvement, was sustained by the younger 
and elder hterary gentlemen of the place. And being central in 
its situation, Brookfield became somewhat noted, as a place of 
resort for holding meetings on public occasions, as the assembling 
of a Lodge, then recently established, mihtary musters, and 
other civic celebrations. On these occasions, alcohohc drinks 
were a prominent ingredient of the entertainment. Indeed, 
such was the prevalence of this pernicious article, that it became 
universal on all social occasions, — a prominent token of hospitali- 
ty — and, with many, a favorite expedient for attaining popular 
favor ; — until the evil became fearfully alarming by its destructive- 
consequences. 

Temperance Reformation. 

Before the commencement of the Kevolutionary War, the 
people generally were quite abstemious in the use of ardent 
spirits. One of the earhest, if not the first store-keeper in the 
place, informed me, that one barrel of spirit would supply his 
customers, all the harvest season, when his was the only store. 
But during the war, and up to the beginning of this century, the 
use of the article had become so common, and intemperance had 
so increased, that I have 'it acknowledged on good authority, that 
at some single stores, a hogshead would not supply the demand 
for a week, and in some instances, had been exhausted in a day. 

So fearfully had intemperance gained an ascendency through- 
out the community, that about 1812, a society was formed in 
Boston, for The Sufpresdon of Intemperance. This was insti-. 
tuted with the liberal indulgence, that the several members, after 
3 



26 

applying all prudent means for correcting the evil in others, 
should use, each one a prudent discretion in determining for him- 
self, how much of the poison was needful for his own health and 
comfort. 

According to recommendation, a society after the same model, 
was got up in this place ; a constitution was formed and printed ; 
and there appeared in the citizens a general conviction of the 
enormous evil, and a seeming readiness to unite in its suppression. 
But after holding some meetings, and considerable talk on the 
subject, and passing several spirited resolutions en paper, the 
whole movement turned out to be " much ado about nothing.''^ — ■ 
It disclosed, however, the important truth, that Leviathan is not 
80 tamed; and by its entire failure, led the friends of temperance 
to discover, and at length to adopt, the true principle on which 
alone the reformation can be carried forwai'd to its desired result, 
the total abstinence, as a beverage, from all intoxicating drinks. 

I do not suppose, nor would I in the least insinuate, that the 
inebriating cup, or the use of alcohol, was more common, or of 
more pernicious eft'ects in Brookfield, than in many and most other 
parts of our country. But of this, I am confident, that if a 
faithful history of the ruinous consequences of intemperance in 
this town only were written, it would disclose an appalhng mass of 
evils, that would evince the Temperance Reform to be one of 
the greatest temporal blessings it has ever experienced. 

The formation of other religious societies in the Parish. 

It has already been observed, that, at the time of my settle- 
ment, there was only one other religious denomination within the 
parish, that of the Baptists, in the easterly part of this town and 
North Brookfield. But a few years after, as the people of the 
country adopted new notions of civil and religious hberty, there 
sprung up a disposition to break away from their accustomed asso- 
ciations for rehgious worship, and to form new corporations for the 
purpose. To faciUtate the object, and to reUeve the inconvenience 



27 

of passing single acts upon every now application, the Legislature 
in 1811, passed a general law of incorporation ; so that any 
number of persons, so disposed, might form themselves into a 
legal religious community for the purpose of worshipping God 
according to their professed belief and their common liking. 

About this time certain individuals living near the south eastern 
and south western corners of this town, with others in the con- 
tiguous towns, professing the belief of universal salvation, formed 
two religious societies of that denomination, and built them meet- 
ing houses : one of them settled a minister, and both, at intervals, 
employed Universalist preachers. And to both societies their 
places of worship still remain. But to the passers-by, the finger 
of time seems to have inscribed upon them the sacred truth, ^25- 
cept the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. 

Some time after this, a Methodist family, returning to this 
place, set up a class-meeting, and at length formed a Methodist 
society, and built them a meeting-house ; and after the lapse of 
some tw^enty or thirty years, a second place of worship in this 
village ; in both of which they have maintained the regular dis- 
pensation of the sacred word and ordinances. — Thus, instead of 
one society, there were portions of four others, of differing per- 
suasions, within the limits of the South Parish. — Of course, a 
considerable number of names, belonging to these new incorpora- 
tions, " signed off" from the original parish. 

This secession, after some years, occasioned an uneasiness in 
the minds of a few, lest they should be over-burdened with minis- 
terial taxes. The disquiet, however, was happily soon allayed, by 
the calling of a parish-meeting in the spring of 1824, at which, 
an adjustment of the apprehended grievance was made by the 
minister, with the parish, to their entire satisfaction. At this 
meeting, they passed a unanimous vote, (and that it might be 
the more free and clear, they passed it through the ballot-box) 
that they were perfectly satisfied with the proposals I had made ; 
and in testimony of their good feelings, voted their thanks for 
my liberality, and their desire that I should continue my ministry 

long them. ♦ 



jtoong thei 



28 

This uneasiness being removed, the parish remained harmonious 
and quiet in their accustomed attendance on my ministrations ; 
and I was holding the same friendly intercourse with them as 
ever. Not a note of disaffection was heard, nor any suspicion 
entertained, that trouble was brewing, until, of a sudden, it broke 
forth. 

The contrivers and instigators of this movement, as I was in- 
formed, were two young men who, without any claim to a reli- 
gious character, and, so far as I ever knew, without ever being per- 
sonally disobliged by myself, undertook, in the close of 1826, to 
raise a commotion in the parish and procure the dismission of the 
minister. This they sought to bring to pass, first, by holding 
secret meetings at the tavern, inviting such to attend as they 
could find disposed to favor their project ; and then going round 
the parish to converse individually with such as they thought 
might he, or as they could render, disaffected to the incumbent. 
In this manner, they conducted their enterprises from week to 
week, until sometime in January 1827 : — when a petition was 
made out to the parish committee, subscribed by seventeen names, 
requesting the calHng of a parish meethsg, " To see if the parish 
would request Rev. Micah Stone to withdraio his services as 
pastor of said parish ;" without assigning any reasons, why they 
desired him to do it. 

I mention the conduct of these persons, not from resentment, 
but to show hoiv the quiet of a parish may be disturbed, and by 
what instruments, God sometimes brings to pass His inscrutable 
designs. For, I trust, it was His purpose that my connection, 
as their minister, with the parish should be dissolved ; and for 
my greater usefulness, I hope, in promoting the cause of evangeli- 
cal truth ; and that He made use of these men to accomplish 
His designs, just as Joseph told his brethren, who had malicious- 
ly sold him into Egypt, " Te meant evil against me ; hut God 
meant it for good.^^ 

Suffice it then to say, the prayer of the petition was granted — 
a parish meeting was ci^^d, the specified request was voted (21 
to 25) , and the vote^ommunicated to me. ^^^ 




29 

In reply to the communication, I observed, that I had no de- 
sire to continue their minister, if my services were unacceptable ; 
and that, for sufficient reasons, I was ready to withdraw them. 
But those reasons, it was but just and reasonable, I should have 
distinctly stated. — A committee was then appointed, to set forth 
reasons ; which, (with the help of the minister) they did, to the 
acceptance of the parish. 

It is needless to go into detail of all the transactions connected 
with my separation from the parish. I will say in brief ; that, 
after holding several meetings, my civil contract with the parish 
was, by mutual agreement, dissolved on the 10th of April 1827. 
It was, however, with the express stipulation, and mutual under- 
standing, tJiat I should still retain my pastoral relation to the 
church, until it should he dissolved hy an ecclesiastical council ; 
that I should hold myself rehgiously bound to watch over, to in- 
struct and edify the church, so far as in my peculiar circumstances, 
it should be in my power ; and that I should have no legal claim 
to pecuniary compensation from the parish or the church. 

The singular, and, I must think, providential provision in this 
agreement deserves notice. Its consequences were little thought 
of at the time. For while it disconnected the parish from the 
minister, it left him free and bound to the church as their pastor, 
to act with and for them, as future circumstances should require. 
And it placed him in a situation to exert an influence, and do 
that in their favor, which none but a pastor could do ; and which 
he himself could not have done, had he been discharged from that 
relation. 

At the time of my being disconnected with the parish, there 
was no design, or thought, that then appeared, of settling a 
minister differing in rehgious views from myself and the ministers 
of the association with which the church and its pastors had al- 
ways been connected. — In the reasons assigned, why they desired 
me to withdraw my services, no mention or allusion was made to 
any change of religious sentiments ; or that the church covenant 
had been altered ; or that the door of admission to the church 
was too strictly barred. — These allegations were suggested to 
" . 3* 



80 

them afterwards to serve another pur^jose* — the introducing of a 
ministry of different sentiments and denomination. The common 
saying at first was, we do not want a minister of different senti- 
ments. We only desire a smart young man, who may induce 
those to return to the society, that have " signed off." The first 
candidate employed was an Episcopalian : and it was offered in 
favor of engaging him, that he was orthodox. — And I have satis- 
factory evidence that the society generally, and its leading mem- 
hers were uninformed respecting Unitarian views ; and no ways 
specially inclined to that belief; — until certain clerical gentlemen 
of that persuasion, at a distance, offered gratuitously, and whose 
avowed purpose it was, to enlighten them on the subjectf ; which 
was done to the satisfaction of the parish after three Sabbaths' 
preaching. 

These labors of love being performed, the Parish Committee 
(by general consent undoubtedly) engaged two unitarian candi- 
dates for the purpose of settling one of them over the society. 

Upon these ministrations the church and pastor felt they could 
not consistently attend. 

Here again it becomes me to notice the overruling hand of 
Providence in bringing the important question of leaving our 
former place of Avorship to a prompt decision. — Had the parish 
lingered in determining what description of candidates they in- 
tended to employ — had they chosen those of a different belief — 
had they not resohed forthwith to go forward and settle a minis- 
ter differing essentially in his rehgious sentiments from what the 
church entertained — the church might have become perplexed, 
indecisive and divided in its action. The pastor's relation might 
have been dissolved, and he have entered into other engagements. 
But the hasty, determined proceedings of the parish, as quickly 
and decisively determined the action of the church. The ques- 
tion, in their judgment, was too plain for hesitation or debate, 
while they had a pastor bound to them by solemn ties, on whose 
ministrations they could attend. The peculiarities of the case 

* See Appendix B. t See Appendix C. 



81 

strongly cemented the hearts of the church and the pastor ; and 
they decided, at once, according to the agreement with the parish, 
to hold a separate meeting for religious worship. — The church,' at 
this time, consisted of 13 male and 36 female members. Of 
these, two males and nine females remained with the parish ; one 
undecided. But where could they assemble for the purpose ? 
From our former sanctuary we were excluded. On the first 
Sabbath we met in the centre school-house. But, after that, it 
was closed against us. For several Sabbaths we held our meet- 
ings in private dwellings. And being defeated in our attempt to 
rent a hall in the hotel, one of our numbers obtained the occu- 
pancy of an old store — (with great secrecy however, lest in that 
also we might be defeated) — where, in an upper, unfinished 
chamber, termed in derision " the garret" — we celebrated divine 
worship for a year. In this humble retreat, we found a little 
sanctuary — a resting place in our trials. For there we took 
sweet counsel together, and strengthened each others' hands in 
God. There we sought the Lord ; and found favor with God 
and men. There the Evangelical Society was regularly institut- 
ed, and connected vv'ith the church and pastor. — There the reso- 
lution to build our sanctuary was deliberately formed, and there 
we continued from Sabbath to Sabbath, to celebrate divine ordi- 
nances, and hold other meetings, until the house in which we 
now worship was completed. 

Considering the smallness and feebleness of our little band, to 
persons unacquainted with the circumstances of our case, it may 
seem little short of demented rashness, that we should undertake 
to build a house for pubhc worship. — For I question, whether, in 
point of numbers or property, they exceeded a fifth of the origi- 
nal parish, at the time of my settlement ; and that their whole 
valuation exceeded $25,000. — The building committee consisted 
of seven names,* and these mostly in moderate circumstances, 
compHsing, however, the principal strength of the Society, as 
there were few others in it, to whom they could look for aid. — 
That in such circumstances they should assume the whole re- 

• See Appendix D. 



32 

sponslbility of the undertaking may seem surprising. — But, through 
the cireumstances of the case their hearts were united as one, and 
inspirited to the work. Necessity was laid upon them. They felt 
that they must have a Meeting-house, or the society with the 
church must become extinct. — Further, we were encouraged to 
proceed by the approving result and advice of an Ecclesiastical 
council, called to review the proceedings of the church and 
pastor. — We knew, also, that we possessed the sympathies of the 
neighboring churches, and of the orthodox community. — And 
of committing our cause and enterprises to Him who judgeth 
righteously we determined to go forward, as God should prosper. — 
And blessed be His name. He did not disappoint our trust. He 
crowned our efforts with success. — The house was dedicated Au- 
gust 14, 1828 ; about four months from laying its foundations, 
and eight months from taking the resolution to build it. 

It may not be unsuitable to add, that the donations and sub- 
scriptions for the meeting-house, with what was at last paid by 
the building committee, went to constitute a fund to aid in the 
support of the ministry. The slips are unsold, and are yearly 
rented to such as desire to worship in the house ; and the pro- 
ceeds appropriated injJCirt payment of the minister's salary. 

Here I would mention, to the praise of God's kind providence, 
that during the whole process of building our meeting-house, not 
a single accident occurred to interrupt or sadden the undertaking. 
Everything went on harmoniously and successfully. Not a note 
of discord was ever heard in the doings of the committee, or of 
the society. None appeared disheartened, or disposed to turn 
back, or shrink from performing the duty assumed, or the service 
assigned. 

To the pastor was committed the service of soliciting aid in be- 
half of the church. This he did, by visiting the neighboring so_ 
cieties, and others more remote. For this purpose, he was fur. 
nished with a general letter by the Brookfield Association of min- 
isters, commending our case to the sympathy and assistance of the 
christian community. And it is gratifying to recollect with what 
kindness he was received wherever he went ; — never, but in one 



33 

or two instances, did he meet with a discourteous or unkind re- 
ception. 

And here I must not omit to mention the very kind and effec- 
tive aid I received from my bretla-en of the Brookfield Associa- 
tion. In our needy and perplexed condition, they were friends 
indeed — assisting and encouraging us by their counsels, their 
prayers and pecuniary means ; and recommending to their peo- 
ple to do likewise. 

In the same friendly spirit, they appointed three of their body, 
Rev. Drs. Fiske, Snell, and Cooke, then of the Association, a 
committee to advise with me respecting the law-suit instituted for 
our church furniture ; and incase they should judge fit, to pledge, 
in behalf of the association, pecuniary assistance in- carrying it 
on. This they did.* The latter gentleman, (Rev. Dr. Cooke,) 
also rendered important service by his able pen, in correcting, 
through the Boston Recorder, the misstatements of a writer in 
the Christian Register, in reference to this church and its pastor, 
thereby spreading before the religious community a correct ac- 
count of our situation, and thus, in a measure, prepared the way 
for my kind reception, when I went among them. 

After being enabled successfully to complete the building of 
our meeting-house, the good providence of God still continued to 
smile upon us ; for, although we had obtained a place of worship, 
the society was too feeble in its own strength, wholly to sustain 
the ministration of christian ordinances. 

In the exigency of the times, the Lord put it into the hearts 
of the Brookfield Association to form within their limits a society 
for the mutual assistance of feeble churches among them ; which 
has been conspicuously blessed. Of this society I received aid 
two years — $50 each year ; after which, I relinquished the char- 
ity, in consideration that myself and family could subsist on what 
we had, and that there were other needy ministers, whose person- 
al and family calls for help were more urgent than my own. Af- 
terwards, when this society for mutual aid became auxiliary to the 

* See Appendix, E. 



34 

Massachusetts Missionary Society, and our church, in 1834, had 
settled a colleague pastor, they thenceforward received aid from 
the last-mentioned society for eight years; making ten years in 
which our church was assisted, amounting in the whole, to $950. 

In return^for this charitable aid, the Evangelical Society has re- 
paid to the assisting societies (so far as I have been able to as* 
certain) by their annual contributions, $184.21. Besides this, 
the Evangelical Society has contributed to Foreign Missions and 
other charitable institutions, considerably more than $3,000 ; be- 
sides collections for S. S. Libraries, Tract Society, &c., of which 
I have no sufficient data to ascertain the amount. So the Lord 
makes good his word of promise to benevolent institutions^ as well 
as to charitable individuals : " Cast thy bread upon the waters, 
for thou shalt findit after many days.^' 

For further evidence of God's continued mercy to this little 
flock, I would mention with devout gratitude, that from the time 
of our exile from our former house of worship unto the present, the 
church has not been without a pastor to break to them the bread 
of life ; nor without many tokens of divine favor through the sym- 
pathies of kind friends. By the liberality of -generous benefac- 
tors abroad and at home, the church and its pastors from time to 
time have received valuable donations.* And what calls for most 
grateful acknowledgment to an ever watchful and gracious Provi- 
vence is, when, a few years after our house of worship was finish- 
ed,! Grod was pleased most wonderfully to bless the efforts of the 
neighborhood in rescuing it from devouring flames kindled within 
it, when it was in utmost peril of being consumed. 

In addition to these temporal favors, God has graciously smiled 
upon us in preserving the peace, order and harmony of the 
church and society ; so that not only has an unbroken friendship 
been maintained with the senior pastor, but in the hearing of 
thirteen candidates for the ministry ; the settlement of four col- 
league pastors, J and the dismission of three from office (I may 
now add the fourth) all has been conducted with mutual forbear- 

* See Appendix, r. t Dec. 15, 1844. t Se« Appendix, G. 



ance and the exercise of fraternal affection. In repeated in- 
stances have the society manifested their kind remembrance of 
their pastors, by donation visits. Our church has been continu- 
ally receiving new accessions to its members, and the number of 
attendant worshippers has increased from year to year. It ia 
further cause of grateful acknowledgment, that by the united 
agency of the church and pastors, an interesting and flourishing 
Sabbath School has been kept up without intermission by a suc- 
cession of superintendents and teachers very commendably de- 
voted to the institution. 

And it is to be mentioned also among our special favors, that 
by the ordering of a kind providence, one of the late junior pas- 
tors of the church, who, by bodily indisposition was unable to 
continue his pastoral labors, has been located in our midst in a 
kindred department of instruction, and with his worthy compan- 
ion, are remembered among our most active and efficient helpers. 

Nor are these the least of divine favors. Besides the increased 
ability of the society, so as to be able, independently of foreign 
aid, to sustain the institutions of the gospel, God has seen meet 
to visit this vine of his planting, with repeated showers of his 
grace. In four instances, since our separation, has he caused 
our hearts to sing for joy, on account of the reviving of his work ; 
by which 59 hopeful subjects of his grace were added to the 
church. In addition to these, there were received to fellowship 
on other occasions, upon profession of their faith, 53, -in all, 112 ; 
by letter, 73, making in the whole, 185, in the course of twenty- 
three years. Of these there have died, 18 ; dismissed to other 
churches, 53 ; excluded, 6. 

And allow me, my friends, to say, that in looking back to my 
past labors and trials, I find much cause of gratitude to God in 
recollecting with what health and strength, what cheerfulness of 
heart, supply of temporal comforts and of kind assistance from 
friends, I have been sustained and carried through them. The 
labors, although arduous, were not felt to be burdensome ; and 
the trials I experienced, I must say, were but " blessings in dis- 
guise." In no instance was I left to despondency ; nor " cast one 
longing, lingering look behind." 



36 

When scenes of trouble and gloom tliickened, the 37th Psalm 
was mj comfort and support. I there read with renewed encour- 
agement : T'/'ust in the Lord and do good ; so shalt thou dwell in 
the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. — This encouragement God 
has literally fulfilled to me. Not only have I dwelt in the land, 
but however small my income, myself and family have been com- 
fortably supplied. 

And I Tvill say, on this occasion, that it has been a source of 
satisfaction, that at my separation from the parish, I voluntarily 
gave the pledge, that I would remain with the church as their 
pastor, without any legal claim to pecuniary compensation, until 
discharged from that relation, and that, by God helping, I have 
been enabled to redeem the pledge. 

My friends of the society, I feel confident, will bear me witness 
that I have not been burdensome to them ; nor exacted, or soHcit- 
ed aught from them beyond what they voluntarily ofiercd. This 
seemed to be required of me by tiie necessity of the case ; as all 
the resources of the society were required, for a time, for the 
building of the Meeting-house. — The first year I received no 
compensation for my services, save only that the Dorcases of 
the church made and presented me with two needful garments. — 
Then afterwards, to the time of settling my first colleague, a 
period of six years and eight months, I received from my people 
$475 : and from the Society for Mutual Assistance $100 ; mak- 
ing in the whole $575. And may I not say without a violation 
of modesty, that this providential provision of the pastor for the 
church, was specially adjusted to the exigencies of their case ; — 
" was tempering the Avind to the shorn lamb." — For while I con- 
sider it an honor to have been called, by the Head of the church, 
to such a post of self-denying labor and suffering with his people, 
it did have the effect to encourage them in their feebleness to do 
what they could to sustain the services of God's house, until they 
should acquire new strength ; and other helpers should come to 
their aid. — For it required time and training, and an enlargement 
of views to render the members of a new society, and those 
coming into the place, willing to pay a three ov fourfold ministeri- 



37 

al tax beyond what tliey had been accustomed to pay, or was re- 
quired in other congregations. — This society, then, after seven 
years, having attained such a state, afforded one reason among 
others, why the pastor should ask to be released from his engage- 
ment, and another introduced, and that the society, by enduring, 
having learned to bear, and being more sensible of their own 
strength, should be requested still further to exercise it, until 
they should be able to sustain the whole support of the ministry, 
and take the responsibility upon themselves. 

During the time that I served the Evangelical Society, as sole 
pastor, neither myself nor family suffered lack of the comforts of 
lif^. And what our small stipend failed to afford for a subsis- 
tence, my help-mate with myself were enabled to supply by frugal- 
ity and the labor of our hands. 

In this brief notice of our church and myself, I would ask, 
have we not new manifestation of that divine power, which can 
save hjfeiv, as well as by wan?/ ? and which has verified in our 
instance, the gracious word, M)t hy might nor hy power ; hut my 
spirit saith the Lord. 

I will now say in conclusion, that during the ^seventeen years, 
which have elapsed since I relinquished the duties of sole pastor, 
I have had four of my younger brethren* associated with me in 
the pastoral office, relieving me of its stated and responsible 
labors ; with whom, I rejoice to say, I have Hved in uninterrupted 
harmony ; sharing their fraternal attentions, and regularly divid- 
ing with them the accustomed services at the Lord's table ; and 
assisting them, on other occasions, as their pleasure or need in- 
duced them to request my aid ; or as the exigencies of the socie- 
ty might require. — In all this time, I have enjoyed the confi- 
dence and respectful regards of the church and society ; and I 
am gratified to add, the renewed courtesies and friendly offices of 
my former parishioners. 

And now, in the closing of my pastorate of fifty years, and 
standing, as it were, on the brink of Jordan — I desire most de- 

* See Appendix G. 

4 



38 

voutly to bless God for his manifold favors — both joyous and 
afflictive : for he has given me occasion to sing of judgment, as 
well as of mercy. He has done all things well — for the best. 
And nothing have I to regret, but my own unfaithfulness, and 
the want of a more confiding, grateful, devoted heart.- — Particu- 
larly do I desire to render Him my warmest thanks that he has 
spared my life to this interesting occasion, and has afforded me 
strength and opportunity to bear my public testimony to the 
power and riches of divine mercy to myself and family, and to 
this church of my pastoral charge — that He has made me the 
humble instrument in his hand, of sustaining them in the season 
of their extreme feebleness and severe trial ; — of administering 
to their christian edification and comfort, at the time of their 
greatest need ; and of sharing with them the toils and sacrifices 
of an arduous attempt to sustain the worship and faith of the 
gospel, as we believe them, once delivered to the saints : — ^And 
that now, in the evening of my days, He is affording me the joy- 
ful satisfaction of seeing them built up on the foundation of the 
prophets and apostles, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner 
stone ; — and competent, by the di\'ine blessing, in their own 
strength, to maintain the worship and ordinances of God's house. 
And as a crowning satisfaction, He has granted me the privilege 
of beholding in sample, what IMoses saw in miraculous manifesta- 
tion, on mount Horeb, the bush, emblem of the church of God in 
affliction, encompassed with flame, yet not consumed, but made 
to flourish in the fire.* 

0, how strong and striking is the contrast of tliis day, with 
iJiat in which, twenty years ago, our little church went out from 
their sanctuary, not knowing where they should find another place 
in which to worship their God and Savior ! — And what enhances 
my present joy is the exhihrating presence of so many of my 
christian friends and brethren in the ministry — especially those 
aged veterans in the service of Christ, who in the time cf our ex- 



* Alluding to the text (Ex. 3: 21) and subject of discourse, at the dedication 
of the Meeting-house. 



89 

tremity, came to our assistance, ^yitll warm hearts and helping 
hands, — affording us effective aid to build our sanctuary — coun- 
cihng us in our perplexities — comforting our hearts when cast 
down — and strengthening our hands in God. It is indeed re- 
freshing at this jubilee season, to see our aged and our younger 
brethren — our long tried friends, and those with whom in later 
years, we have walked in holy friendship and social intercourse, 
come to rejoice with us in the goodness of God, vouchsafed to 
this church and its aged pastor. 

The gladness of this happy day, 
My heart would wish it long- to stay. 
And may the sweet remembrance last, 
In christian bonds to bind us fast. 

And allow me to add, that the present occasion is signalized^ 
not by the pleasure merely it affords, but by the remarkable/aci, 
that two of my clerical brethren from adjacent towns. Rev. Drs. 
Fiske and Snell, are present ; the only surviving ministers of my 
ordaining council, and of the association at the time when I join- 
ed it ; each of whom has celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of 
his ministry. And what is still further noticeable is, that each of 
our wives have been spared to participate and divide with us the 
toils, the trials and the pleasures of the lengthened period. And 
the chief, if not the only circumstance of regret, which at present 
I feel is, that the partner of my joys and sorrows, through bodily 
infirmities, is unable to be present and share with us, the gratula- 
tions of this rejoicing season. She has always taken a lively in- 
terest in the welfare of this society, and has highly appreciated 
their kind feelings and friendly attentions ; and nothing would 
have afforded her greater pleasure, than to have been present on 
this occasion, and participated in the mutual joys. — Of children, 
I cannot speak except it be of a very pleasant one by adoption, 
who is present on this occasion, as on many that are past, to add 
to our happiness.* 

But, dear brethren, the uncommon facts I have noticed ad- 
monish me and my aged friends — admonish all — that our time 

* See Appendix H. 



40 

is short ; — that, not only will this pleasant assembly be shortly 
broken up, but that, ere long, the young and the middle aged, as 
well as those advanced to the confines of the present life, must 
be separated, to meet no more on earth. Soon the changeful 
scenes of this probationary existence, with respect to each one of 
us, will be passed, and our unalterable destiny determined by the 
Great Judge, according to the deeds done in the body. 

then, let us keep constantly in our view, that most joyful 
meeting, to which the faith and hope of every true christian 
teach and animate him to aspire, around the throne of God, and 
in the presence of the Lamb — where there shall be no more sin 
nor sorrow, nor painful separation ; but where, being once admit- 
ed, we shall go no more out ; nor fail to bear a part, in the joyous 
hosannas, and blessed society of the saints and holy angels made 
perfect in glory ; and no longer lack the complete vision and full 
fruition of God. 

To this joyful consummation of our faith and hopes, let us con- 
tinually look forward, without wavering, while the flickering lamp 
of life holds out to burn. — Standing at the post of duty, holding 
fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope, firm unto the 
end, like those servants that are waiting for the coming of their 
Lord : — that when we shall see the messenger of death approach- 
ing, we may each of us be able, by divine grace, to say with holy 
exultation, I am noio ready to he offered, and the time of my de- 
parture is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished 
my course and kept the faith ; henceforth there is laid up for me, 
a croivn of righteousness, tvhich the Lord the righteous Judge 
shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but unto all them 
that love his appearing. 



41 



MUSIC. 

Te Deum. — (By a relative of the Pastor.) 

Patlicr of lights, to Thee we owe 
All that is good for us below ; 
And, by thy grace, are freely giv'n 
Our richer hopes of good in heav'n. 

Thou gavest all ; and unto Thee 
The kingdom, power and glory be ; 
Thy hand hath form'd us. Thee we bless, 
Great God of peace and righteousness. 

Thy Son, when darkest was our night, 
Shed through the gloom a cheering light. 
The lost to save, — reclaim and bless 
The wand'rers in life's wilderness. 

Oh ! glorious light, whose beams arose 
O'er the dread scene of human woes. 
Shine in our hearts, we humbly pray, 
To quell our fears, and guide our way. 

Incarnate word. Ancient of Days, 

Thou Prince of Peace, thy name we praise ; 

Be Thou our refuge. Thou our rest, 

God over all, forever blest. 

Spirit of Truth, thine aid we hail, 

To lead us through this erring vale, 

To sanctify and seal thy host ; 

Hail ! Father, Son, and Holt Ghost. 



BEKEDICTIO]^. 

By the Rev. Dr. Snell oe North Brookfield. 
Thou Great Sheplierd of Israel — Thou that leadest Joseph like a 
flock — Thou th|it dwellest betvreen the Cherubims ; shme forth in mercy, 
and look down and behold and visit this vine whieli thy hand hath plant- 
ed. And now the Lord bless you and keep you — the Lord make his 
face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you — the Lord lift the lio-ht 
of His countenance upon you and give you peace, thi'ough Him who 
loved us and gave Himself for us, to whom be thanksgiving and glory 

in the church for ever. Amen. 

4.* 



42 

At the close of the exercises in the sanctuary, the audience repaired 
to the hall in tlie basement of the church, which was luxuriantly and 
tastefully decorated with evergreen and flowers, which, though the 
handiwork of our young ladies, would do credit even to Flora herself. 
(A beautiful wreath enclosing " 1801, 1851," was suspended behind 
the seat of the Pastor.) Here the ladies of the society had arranged a 
collation, bountiful and ore?-bountiful, as one of the puljlic journals has 
given it ; and, after a blessing, implored hy the Rev. Dr. Osgood of 
Springfield, the assembly went into a prolonffed discussion of the good 
things placed before them, until appetite gave way to satiety, without 
hardly a sensible diminution of the abundance. 

The President of the day, Rev. W. A. Nichols, nest called attention 
1» the exercises of the occasion, as they rose higher in the scale of be- 
ing, and introduced the same, by the following sentiment : 

The day ive celehrate ; This day, he said, is not the Fourth of 
July, but the Eleventh of March. It does not commemorate a nation's 
birth-day, but the consecration of an ambassador to his sacred work. It 
does not look forward to the multiplication of states and territories, but 
to lost ones' saved, and gathered home to mansions in tlich- heavenly 
Father's house. 

He then gave the following : 

Our Senior Pastor ; He cometh to this day in a full age ; like as a 
shock of ^orn cometh in his season. 

To this the Hon. W. B. Banister, of Newbui-yport, responded nearly 
as follows : 

Mr. Chairman ; 

The occasion on which we are convened is one 
of no ordinary character. It is not a political gathering ; — it is not our 
nation's birth-day, as you, sir, have justly said ; neither is it a mere 
pageant, — or social gala-day : — but it is a christian festival ; — a festival 
•of christians. It is a delightful occasion for expression and exchange of 
christian sympathies and hopes. It is an* occasion, su-, of unusual 
character and interest, — as the semi-centennial anniversary of the unin- 
terrupted relationship of this venerable Senior Pastor, with this church 
and religious society — "WTiere, sir*, in these changful times, shall we look 
for a parallel 'I Uueommon as such instances are, I rejoice most thank- 
fully, that on the right hand and on the left, of your senior Pastor, sit- 
two clerical brethren,* who, like him, have each completed his scmi- 

* Eev. Dr. Fiskc and Rev. Dr. Sncll. 



43 

centennial pastorate, over churches contiguous to each other, and to this. 
Nor does this fact in anywise lessen — may it increase the peculiarity 
and interest of tlie oceai^ion. Permit me then, sir, in repeating the 
sentiment which I am aitemj^i^ng to illustrate, to enlarge its application, 
by varying its phraseology, without in the least diminishing its originality 
and force, — by only substituting the plural for the singular number in 
two or three instances, and read, these Senior Pastors, they come to this 
day in a full age — like as shocks of corn come in their season. 

Mr. Cuairman : — I stand not here, to day, to eulogize your Senior 
Pastor, — but rather in his connexion with this church and congregation, 
to bear ray humble testimony to his solicitudes, his sacrafices, and his 
faithful toils for its preservation, increase and prosperity " in the times 
that tried men's souls." 

Sir, — ^I beo; the indularcnce of this church, and of its Senior and Col- 
league Pastors, if I claim kindred with it. 

My parents were members of it ; I was born into it, and received my 
christian name from the hands and lips of the venerable predecessor of 
this senior pastor, some twenty-eight years prior to his connexion with it. 
Though, for the most of my life, I have been located at a distance from 
this, my native place, and have had no relationship to this church, other 
than by birth and baptism, yet have I known its history, and have deep- 
ly sympathized in all its interests, its depressions, and oppressions ; and 
T worshipped with them a few times in that little " upper story," after 
they had been driven from the sanctuary of their fathers. 

" God moves in a mysterious way, 
His wonders to perform." 

It is a painful truth, that churches and individual cluistians, and even 
our spiritual teachers, l>ut too often require the ordeal of suffering, for 
their purification and growth in grace. 

Most happy is it, for all who are thus tried, when such results are the 
fruit of such ordeal. Such, we trust, has been the grievous experience 
of this church, and of this " senior pastor ; " and by his peculiar share 
therein, has he been ripened "like as a shock of corn cometh in his 
season." Thus, "he cometh to this day in a full age." Thus also do 
we trust, that, by its sufferings and its trials, the great Shepherd pre- 
pared this flock for the deliverance, increase and enlargement, which he 
has graciously vouchsafed unto it, until we behold it as at this day, 
standmg out before the world, individually and collectively testifymg to 



44 

the vitality and power of tliat system of ortliodox doctrines wliich they 
have been taught by this venerable man and his several colleagues ; and 
which, enforced and made effectual by the Holy Sphit, they have re- 
ceived and believed ; and ujron which tho}%have founded all then- bright 
hopes of the future. This, their testimony, is the most impressive, im- 
portant and crowning interest of the day. 

We have assembled on this occasion to rejoice with them ; and, with 
them, to render thanks to the great Head of the church, for all that he 
has been to them, and done for them ; and with our sympathies and our 
prayers, to encourage them to continue steadfast in the distinguishing 
doctrines, in which they have been instructed by him who " cometh to 
this day in a fuU age, like as a shock of corn cometh in his season." 

The President next announced Our Junior Pastor ; — he has tried 
his armor on heathen and christian ground. In reply to this, the Rev. 
S. Hutchings, of Brookfield, arose and said : 

Mr. Chairman ; 

We have had to-day, a review of the last fifty 
years in Brookfield. It is fitting, on this occasion which coincides so 
nearly with the close of the first half of the 19th century, to look be- 
yond our little town, and glance at some of the important events that 
have occurred in the wide world. 

Taking the liberty of passing by the other portion of the sentiment, I 
shall confine myself to the Missionary enterprise. This, in fact, consti- 
tutes one of the prominent features of the world's progress the last fifty 
years. Almost all that has been done by Protestant Christendom, for 
evangelizing the world, has been since the commencement of the present 
century, that is, since the orduiation of my revered colleague in this 
place. 

Little did Carey and his compeers anticipate what has since been real- 
ized, when they modestly resolved, to use their own language, " to maJce 
a trial for introducing the gospel among the heathen." The London 
Church, and Weslcyan Missionary Societies, were formed at the close of 
the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuiy. In this countiy, nothing 
was done by the church, to send the gospel abroad, till 1810, when, 
through the influence of S. J. Mills, and two or three others, was form- 
ed the American Board. These young men had, while at Williams 
College, been wont to meet hy a hay-stack, on the lianks of the Hoosack. 
to pray and consult about a mission to the heathen. But so timid were 



45 

the gi'cat and good men who had organized the Board, as to the ability 
of the American Church to support a mission, that they sent Mr. Judson 
to England, to inquire if the L. M. S. would sustain him and his com- 
panions in the foreign field. The response from England to the Board, 
was an earnest exhortation, in view of the example of Elliot, Mayhew 
and Brainard, to go forward, independently in the missionary work. 

And what have been the fruits of these numerous voluntary organiza- 
tions ? Since that time, about 2000 men have been sent forth to propar 
gate the gospel in pagan lands — 4000 churches organized — 2-50,000 con- 
verts numbered, and as many youths gathered into schools — ^^40,000,000 
have been raised for sending the gospel abroad, and S2, 000, 000 are an- 
nually expended by Protestant Christendom, where fifty or sixty years 
ago, a dollar was not given. 

The British and Foreign Bible Society was formed in 1804. Then 
there were not more than four million copies of the Bible in 50 langua- 
ges, spoken by 200,000,000 people. Since that time, the Bible has 
been translated into about 170 languages spoken by 600,000,000 people, 
and no less than 30,000,000 copies have been cir£ulated. And all 
this beside what private enterprise has accomplished. 

Truth has been diffused through extensive heathen communities by 
missionaries, the word of God, and religious books ; in some the whole 
aspect of society is entirely changed, and thousands, once addicted to 
the most horrid rites, and debased by the vilest crimes, have been ele- • 
vated and converted. Barbarous tribes have been civilized, regular 
governments formed, many languages reduced to writing, the superstitious 
and absurd usages of centuries swept away. The Sandwich Islands, 
from a race of brutish idolaters, have become a civilized, educated, com- 
mercial, christian nation. Africa has begun to emerge from her dense 
darkness, and, in many points, is becoming radiant with light. The Ke- 
public of Liberia, with her 7000 American imigrants, and 240,000 
natives, and extending along the coast 700 miles, is destined to exert a 
mighty influence upon the whole continent, in the suppression of the 
slave trade. 

Fifty years ago, the heathen world seemed, at many points, barred 
against missionaries. To enter Mohamedan countries, especially Turkey, 
offering a new religion, appeared the extreme of rashness, the most pre- 
sumptuous risk of life. Now, the Sultan himself lifts the banner of 
toleration, and extends the firman of his protection over the new com- 
munity of christians, which he finds increasing within his dominions. 



46 

Our early missionaries to India were driven from place to place, by the 
Government, before tliey were allowed rest for the sole of the foot, and 
the privilege of laboring for the Hindus. Now the same government is 
forwaixl to express its approval and admiration of the labors of missiona- 
ries in tliat field, and to render sucli facilities as consist with its position. 
China, at that time, and long after, was shut in by prejudices, and laws 
apparently invulnerable. Now that iron wall has sustained a breach, 
which cannot be repaired, and China is open. Persia, at that time a 
stronghold of Mohamedan despotism, and infected by ferocious hordes, 
seemed a wholly impracticable field. But missionaries have penetrated 
it, and after a few years of toil and discoui-agement, they have lately 
witnessed displays of di\'ine grace, as glorious as any that have blessed 
our world since Pentecostal days. 

The world is open for the gospel. When we reflect, that the work of 
modern missions has seen its infancy since my venerable colleague com- 
menced his labors in this place, and within the memory of many of our 
contemporaries, and compai-e its results with those of pastoral labor within 
the fold of Christendom, we cannot but feel that the success of missions 
has been brilliant, unparalelled. And if so much has been done in the 
last half century for the diffusion of trath, and the improvement of the 
world, when so many obstacles existed, what may be expected the nest 
fifty years, with the numerous facilities furnished by Pro\'idence and the 
inventions of the age, for the prosecution of the work ? 

When this century commenced, there were no rail-roads, the first act of 
Parliament for constructing a railway, being passed in 1801. There 
were no steamships, no electric telegi-aph. There was no power-press. 
Now a power-press strikes off 1500 copies of the New Testament in a 
single day. 

These, and a hundred other facilities, are in the hands of the Chris- 
tian nations of the earth. God has given them these powers, and the 
commanding influence these advantages afford them over heathen nations, 
that the}' may use them to extend the knowledge of Himself to all lands. 
The whole world is in motion. Progress is the watchword. Light is 
spreading from land to land. The prophecy is fulfilling, " Every valley 
shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and 
the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain, and tlie 
glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together." 
" The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, 



47 

as the waters cover tLc sea." — "Blessed jubilee! Lot that glorious 
morning dawn !" 

The next topic announced was, 

The state of things in the Broohfield Association fifty years ago. 

To this the Rev. Dr. Fiske of New Bramtree replied : 
Mr. President ; 

Fifty years ago to-day, my ministerial acquaintance 
with this beloved brother commenced. From that time, our intercourse 
and friendship have not suffered a moment's interruption. The trials 
which he has been called to experience, and of which he has been tell- 
ing you, hiive served to strengthen the bonds by which we were early 
bound together. I have always found him true to his professions and 
promises ; and steady in his amis and purposes, to do his utmost to pro- 
mote the general and individual happiness of all his fellow beings. 

It is doubtless true of us both, and of all others circumstanced as we 
are, that when we enter upon our work, we have no adequate views of 
the importance of a fifty years' ministry among one and the same peo- 
ple. We do not remember, as we ought, that we shall have the training 
of two generations for both worlds. For, while we are but poor earthen 
vessels, God has made us the repositaries of a treasure which cannot be 
duly appreciated by the limited capacities of man. 

It is also to be feared, that in choosing their pastors, the people do not 
consider as they ought, what may result from the transaction. It may 
be, that fifty years hence, a very different estimate may be made, by the 
generation then on the stage, of the wisdom or rashness of their proceed- 
ings, from what can be made by those who provide a pastor for their 
children's children. 

But I am to speak jnore generally of things around us fifty years ago. 
Please then to accompany me back to that period ; and notice a few 
things which will be missing in our way, which are now considered the 
necessaries of life. The fii'st thing will be the Telegraphic Fixtures 
along our rail-roads ; and who can imagine the misery that must ensue ? 
What a trial of patience, that henceforth we can receive no iuformation 
of distant events, until the arrival of the lazy cars. Instead of learning 
what is doing in our national Capitol within ten or twenty minutes, we 
must wait, perhaps, two or thi-ee days. Next you will miss the whistle, 
the train of cars, and the rail-roads. If you ask the traveler about this 
matter, you will be to hun as a barbarian, speaking in an unknown 



48 

tongue. We Lave gotten back to the time, •when rail-roads did not exist, 
only in the heads of "castle builders." — Were you calculating to go 
west, to see how your children are situated ? This will be a summer's 
work. Some of you, who came to this meeting in the cars, must take 
your saddles, and instead of being at home at tea, you may calculate to 
be on youi' way through the day to-morrow. We have now gotten back 
to the era of stages and mm taverns. 

But there are steamboats yet remaining, in which we can speed our 
way over the waters. We can go to oui- gx-eat commercial emporium in 
a few hours. Now you must take the packetj or the sloop, and trust to 
favorable winds, since we are approaching the period for which we set 
out. And there are things too of unspeakably greater importance than 
those. I have named things of a different kind which we have seen 
dropping into annihilation. All the great benevolent operations in 
this and other Christian nations, for the spread of the gospel, and 
amelioration of human suffering and degradation, have passed away with 
the Telegraph and the cars, and the steamboats, as we have been retro- 
grading through the half century. The American Board for Foreign 
Missions, the American Bil)le Society, and, indeed, all other societies 
of the kind, were never heard of where we now arc. And all that they 
have ever done is again undone. We must call back the thirty or forty 
millions of Bibles which have since been sent among the nations, in 
150 new dialects. 

The Sandwich Islands are again in a state of perfect barbarism. 
There is not a school nor a reader among the 200,000 inhabitants of 
those Islands. Our religious anniversaries at New York and Boston, 
have no existence. In short, the lights which have been kindling up 
since the period to which I have been Icadmg you, which have gladdened 
so many hearts, are extinguished, and there is darkness that may be 
felt. 

But in the absence of all our great religious meetings at jthe present 
day, what were the people doing fifty years ago ? Had they no popu- 
lar gatherings, and mass meetiiigs ? They certainly had. And no one 
need be told, that they had relation to things that then were, and not to 
things which were not. 

Military reviews were great occasions. St. John's day was another — 
though no one knew the origin or meaning of it. And there was the 
day of all other days, for the celebration of oiu- Independence. At 
these meetings, all classes, of both sexes were present. The clergy were 



49 

•always invited to attend. They were wanted to pray and to ask God's 
Idessing upon what they were to eat and to drink. And the ladies, who 
have so tastefully furnished these tables for the comfort of their numerous 
guests, will not be displeased if I tell them, that some things are miss- 
ing here, that we used to see in great profusion in other days. Those 
long tables were always adorned with decanters, placed at short distances 
from each other, sparkling with the richest colors you can imagine. 

We have just cast our eye back to the half century, of which I was 
to say something. And are you willing to remain there, and there edu- 
cate youi- children ? 

Do any say " What is the cause that the former days were better tlian 
these V No ; but I am sure you will hasten back with me, to tliis 11th 
day of March, and to this central town of Brookfield Association, and 
join in hearty thanksgiving to God, for what he has been pleased to do 
for you, and for our miserable world, suice the settlement of your Senior 
Pastor. 

Vou have before you at this time, my friends, a subject for wonder, 
(lod has been pleased to permit six individuals in Massachusetts, whf) 
are now among the living, to continue in the ministry, and the people 
with whom they were first connected, have allowed them to remain with 
them fifty years. Three of the six hving in contiguous parishes, with 
the companions of their youth, are present on this interesting occasion to 
partake with you in your joys. I know I speak the sentiments of the 
three, when I say, and perhaps for the last time we shall ever meet yoii 
<jn earth, it is our prayer that the blessing of Almighty God may rest on 
you, and your children, and your children's children forever and forever.. 

The Puritan Fathers ; and as their substitute at this meeting, the 
Father of Tue Puritan was called upon. There being no response, 
viva, voce, an extract as follows, did its best to supply his place. 

Dear Sin, 

I received yours in due course of mail, inviting me to 
be present at Father Stone's semi-centennial. And I am in a strait be- 
twixt two. For my engagements at home are unusually pressing, and 
my desire to be there is equally strong. I will not therefore decline the 
invitation, and express the hope and purpose to be there ; though I must 
say, at the same time, it may be absolutely impossible for me to do it. 

Yours affectionately, 

PARSONS COOKE. 

5 



50 

The Eev. L. WTiiting, of Reading, was next brought up by the follow- 
ing. 

The Ex-Junior Pastors ; though separated from the parent stock, yet 
floui-ishing in other soils ; which may the Lord God delight to water. 

Rev. Mr. TMiiting confessed to a secret reluctance in disturbing the 
feelings of the hour by speech. It is, said he, more an " hour for sUent 
musing on the past" than for words to the present. It would better suit 
my feelings to go and sit down under one of the ancient elms that reach 
from here to the old parsonage — and meditate on the things seen and 
heard in this account of the venerable past. 

It is an instinct, almost, with us, to force reminiscence to the earliest 
date. We do not stop at the tenth, or the twentieth year of this minis- 
try J — we struggle back to the first — and are most interested to picture 
this man, young, — to admire his sprightly step, — his winning tone — his 
youthful strength. — We image him to ourselves at that period, with 
fluttering heart and anxious eye, perasing the sh-anger faces of the 
people, and anxiously studying his parishioners' characters in their 
speech and manners. We see fear and hope — a smile and a tear on 
the then uuwrinkled cheek. We cannot forbeai" to reverence a body, 
and a mind which united such points of time. 

But a jubilee is a time for the trumpet, — the voice of joy belongs to it. 

A thousand riUs of comfort from these past ycai's, are blended here 
into a hoaiy cascade — on whose spray is found the beauteous rainbow. 

Here is the confluence of unconnected impulses of religious and 
social — of public and private joys. A pleasing awe steals over us, as 
we think of a life of Jiffy years! It seems as if we stood before some 
massive temple of ancient Ephesus — the sculptured pillars stretching back 
in lengihened rows into a dusky twilight. 

But you, sir, (turning to the Senior Pastor) may well bo consoled in 
the retrospect of \-igor gone with youth, by the wisdom come with age. — 
Some allusion to Cicero's use of this thought — and to Homer's picture 
of Hector coming from the war, to seek counsel of the ' ' aged counsellors 
of Troy" — in the familiar studies of his youth, were made. 

The speaker then amusingly confessed the reproach of the contrast be- 
tween this long ministry, and the shorter ones he and his associate col- 
leagues had passed, and proceeded to state reasons, which being as ap- 
parent as they were amusing, the reporter left them to the memories of 
the audience for their preservation. 



51 

Mr. W. had recently visited the birthplace of the " aged pastor" — 
been in the room where " he first saw light," — and over the ground of 
his youthful sports. He had gleaned also a few scraps from the old 
church records — of his baptism and ordination — and a few facts concern- 
ing the father — "Parson Stone, of Reading" — which showed pleasmg 
family characteristics. 

The Rev. Mr. Taylor of Slatersville, R. I. next offered some remarks 
touching his family relations to the religious society in this place. 

The chair then called attention to the fact, that our venerable pastor, 
in giving a history of this religious society, rather " let the cat out of 
the bag," that, at first, we stood financially in borrowed shoes. But 
another consideration immediately followed, showing, that we had not 
only paid for our borrowed shoes now, but had furnished means to sup- 
ply others who were destitute, and then passed the subject to the Rev. 
J. S. Clark, by the following : — 

The Mass. Missionary Society ; The labors of its faithful Secretary 
have abounded to his praise in all the feeble churches. This sentiment 
brought to his feet the Rev. Mr. Clark, who said, — 

I have to confess, ]Mr. President, that it was not an entirely a disinter- 
ested motive that brought me to this festival. It was not merely to honor 
our venerable father, the hero of this day. Every where, and always 
I am happy to do this. But I foresaw, that I might find here some 
fresh argument for Home Missions, some new ground of boasting in be- 
half of that society, to which you have made so flattering an allusion. 
And all that I anticipated has come to pass. The survey which we have 
iust taken of tlie great results that have accrued from this pastorate of 
fifty years, brings to view the Massachusetts Home Missionary Society, 
as having had a part to act in their production — as watching with a weak 
and tempted church through a night of perils. Ten years did this deeply- 
affecting relation subsist. And I am sure that all who are present here to 
day, rejoicing in what they see and hear, can easily believe that a bene- 
volent institution, which has helped 175 other chui'ches in Massachusetts 
throuo-h similar scenes, besides throwing its benefactions all over the land, 
has accomplished some good. 

But it should not be forgotten, that the help thus extended to the weak 
has not relieved them from bearing heavy burdens themselves. I can 
testify to all, and more than all, which the pastor of this church has 
tsaid of the hard struggle through which he and his flock have passed — a 
struggle not much unlike the " gxeat fight of afflictions," which the 



52 

])rimitive churches were sometimes called to pass through ; " partly, while 
they were made a gazing stock, both by reproaches and afflictions ; and 
partly, whilst, they became companions of them that were so used." 
And, witli primitive fortitude, was the conflict sustained. We have been 
told, that tlie entire pecuniary valuation of this Ecclesiastical Society. 
when separated from the old parish, was only S24,000. I have an im- 
pression, that for one or two subsequent years, it was even less than t .at. 

Mr. President, in trying to follow one of the speakers, [Rev. Dr- 
Fiske,] backward to the beginning of this semi-centennial pastorate, with 
a view to see how the world looked from that point, a coincidence was 
suggested to my mind, which, however insignificant it may appear tt> 
(jthers, is deeply interesting to myself. This venerable patriarch, whose 
])erformance to-day shows such mental freshness and vigor, was in the 
ministry before I was born ! Within a small fraction of a year from the 
time that I began life, he began his pastoral labors among llus people, 
where we find him a pastor still ! 

I cannot but regard this example as a needed exhortation to many <»f 
us, not yet to he weary in well doing. 

The attention of the audience was next dii'ccted to a venerable form 
which stood in front of the President, which though rather brown, from 
long use and great age, was toasted hr owner. 

The Old Pidpit; it commenced public labors in 1759 ; it was in the 
service of the Rev. Dr. Fiske 41 years; it ministered to the Rev. Micab 
Stone about 26 years ; and after being employe'd by one, now a profes- 
sor in a distinguished college, several years, and by some others of va- 
rious note, it finally gave place to a younger, smarter and more fasliiona- 
ble successor, and retii-ed to private life. Having spent about fifteen 
years without once appearing in public, it has been induced to attend 
this festival of an old friend ; and is now introduced in the exact habili- 
ments of anti(|uity, to speak for itself. 

The old pulpit being rather unused to public speaking of late, the 
choir volunteered to respond as follows : — 

REPLY: 

Now gentlemen and ladies all, 

I freely answer to your call ; 

I 'm older than your ancient trees, 

That wave their branches in the breeze. 



63 

This aged man you honor now, 

I knew him fifty years ago ; 

And, many a holy Sabbath day, 

I've heard him preach, and heard him pray. 

I saw the pious men, who came 
To consecrate liim in the name 
Of Three in One, and One in Three, 
The undivided Trinity. 

The day I can remember well, 
He gave to me his last farewell ; 
We parted with a mutual sigh, 
And each sought other friends to try. 

As I may never speak again. 
In favor of this ancient man, 
In closing, let me say to you, 
Great kindness is your pastor's due. 

This well known adage was next thrown into the meeting. " Old 
men for counsel, young men for action.^^ The Rev Mr. Gale, of Ware, 
took the timely bait, and said ; — 

Mr. Presideu t ; 

You liave exactly expressed my views ; and Dr. Stone is a 
happy illustration of the first part of your proposition. I say Dr. Stone ; 
for when a man has preached the gospel for half a century, and has de- 
livered, in the eighty-first year of his age, such a discourse as we have 
just heard, he " has purchased to himself a good degree," and is a D.D. 
without the aid of sheep-skin and blue ribbon. Therefore, "pro aui-tc- 
ritate mihi commissa," not indeed by a legislative act, and vote of college 
trustees, but by the united voice of the clergy, and all the people here 
assembled, I call our venerable brother. Doctor. Nor does it seem im- 
pertinent to add, that it would be becoming in mother Harvard, at some 
annual breaking of her alabaster box, to pour a few drops of ointment 
upon the head of her worthy alumnus, who, before the nineteenth centu- 
ry began, aided her in tutoring some of her younger boys. But this 
train of remark may be thought a slight digression from the course sug- 
gested by my text. Allow me, then, to call back my truant thoughts 
by the aid of a classical allusion. Our host surely will not object to 
this ; for he loves a ramble on Parnassus as well as on Zion. 

At the siege of Troy, Agamemnon finds Nestor, then ninety years of 

age, 

5* 



54 

" Animating to the fight, 

With •warmest eloquence his Pylian ranks," 

and thus addresses him : — 

" Old Chief! thy dauntless spirit asks 
As firm a knee. But time unhinges all. 
Oh that tlie burden of thy years were laid 
On one far younger, and his youth were thine !'' 

Nestor replies, 

" Atrides ! I would gladly now be such 
As Ereuthalian found me, whom I slew. 
But other gifts the bounteous gods bestow 
On other years ; and if I then possessed 
The powers of youth, I boast them now no more. 
Yet shall I not renounce for such a cause 
My proper place, but mingling with the van, 
Still counsel and harangue the chieftains. 
This is my province ; and to poise the spear 
And hurl it — young and vigorous as they are. 
And born since my decline — that task is theirs." 

Such was the " old man elorjuent" of the Greeks. Like him every 
aged minister of Christ should keep the field ; not as a bird of evil 
omen to send dismay to the hearts, and weakness to the arms of youni^er 
warriors; but, with unabated faith, hope, and zeal, to counsel and encour- 
age them to lead on the sacramental host. Need it be said in this place, 
that our venerable father is a Nestor to the young men of the Brookfield 
Association ? He has not left the field, but is often seen in our van witli 
his trumpet, passing from one junior speaker to another, silently trumpet- 
ing his own praise — some whispers of which seem to echo back to us. 
Thus he has been able to counsel and encourage us, by keeping with the 
times, in the best sense of the phrase. 

The same is true of our other honored octogenarians present. No 
summer's heat or winter's cold, has kept them from the meetings of the 
Association. They know the world, not only as it was, but as it is. 
No telegraphic wire has been stretched across the land without their knowl- 
edge. They have noted the arrival of every new importation of Ger- 
man theology ; and comparing the new with the old, have been able to 
" prove all things and hold fast that which is good." 

Have we not reasons then fur respecting the fathers, and for highly 
valuing theu' counsel, based upon knowledge and illustrated by their 
own experience ? True it is, that " with the ancient is wisdom, and in 



55 

length of days umlcrstanding," which shall not ho used in vain. Ho- 
mer describes the Grecian sage as still in the possession of commanding 
influence. 

" Nestor the Pylian oracle, whose lips 

Dropped eloquence — tlie honey not so sweet. 

Two generations past of mortals born 

He governed, now, the third." 

And does not the hero of this day influence the third generation of his 
people, tlacse young men and maidens, by his example of christian faith, 
and cheerfulness, and by the " even tenor," of a devotional and blame- 
less life ? 

The Rev. Dr. Cooley in his letter remarked, that our aged friend's day 
of life would end with a brilliant sunset. Aye, it will. We now see the 
lengthened shadows of its quiet afternoon ; and when it has gone, the re- 
membrance of it will be as when, on the longest day of June, the sun 
goes down, leaving a twilight so delightful, that we scarcely notice that 
the day has closed. 

In reply to the following sentiment — " Hon. William Hyde, the son 
of a clergyman of blessed memory," Mr. Hyde of Ware said ; — 

I promised you, Mr. Chairman, in reply to your invitation to be pres- 
ent on this occasion, that I would not afilict you with a speech. And it 
may appear presumptuous, in the presence of so many ministers, for a 
layman to attempt to say anything. But since you have called me, I 
\vill promise you the afiiiction shall be short. 

You were pleased to allude, in the sentiment you have just read, to one 
who was a cotemporary and friend of the three venerable fathers who are 
present to rejoice in this interesting occasion, and one to which I have 
looked forward with interest, and have made some efforts to attend. 
It is now nearly sixty years, since he to whom you allude was ordained ; 
and for more than forty years he ministered to the same people, until he 
went to his rest. The wife of his youth still survives in the same house 
they entered in their youth, and the fire has not gone out on the hospita- 
ble hearth, nor their doors been closed since the day they first were open, 
ed. You may well know, then, Su-, that I understand something about 
the joys and sorrows, the trials and anxieties of the ministry. I could 
tell of the care and solicitude, of aching hearts and sleepless nights, 
when they moui'n over the want of interest, of sympathy and co-opera- 
tion on the part of the chui'ch. Have we not evidence enough, in the 



56 

simple but interesting narrative that oiir venerable father has given us 
this day, of the sacrifices made by him for Zion here, that their reward 
is not in this world ; that they " prefer Jerusalem above their chief joy." 

But I would speak to the people, and the ministers "need not hear 
what I say. I am glad we have heard the plain hints of our good bro- 
ther from Beading — for I am convinced, and have been for some time, 
as some very well know — that we are verily in fault in this matter. — 
They that preach the gospel, should live of the gospel ; and they that 
minister at the altar have a right to partake of the things of the altar. 
And while we have lived in houses that we could call our home, we 
have let our ministers be pushed about from place to place, without any- 
thing like a permanent resting place. "We have kept them on too short 
an allowance, and how can we expect them to enter heartily, and with 
courage into their work under such embarrassments. We ought to place 
them above the feeling of want or dependence. We ought no less to 
guard their good name as a precious treasure, never speaking lightly of 
them, or suffering others to do it, but esteem them highly in love for 
their works' sake. I know something of what trials they endure when 
lightly esteemed, and when defamed by those who should hold up their 
hands — that their only remedy has been to wet their pillows with their 
tears, and spend whole nights in prayer, that God would remember Zion. 
We cannot expect the ministry to be successful, if we do not do oiu- duty 
towards them. And knowing what I do, rather than that my tongue 
shall ever speak lightly of my minister, and say aught to weaken or im- 
pair his influence, let it cleave to the roof of my mouth — and let ray 
right hand forget its cunning before it shall be found voting with those 
who would lightly sever him from the flock over wliich the Holy Ghost 
has made him overseer. 

The Chair next announced. 

Our Chief Butler ; who labors to furnish the multitude not with 
the wine of mirth, whicli simply maketh glad the heart of man, but the 
water of life which refreshes and saves the soul. 

This brought up the Bev. Daniel Butler, Agent of the Mass. Bible 
Society, who responded by assm-ing the company, that it was a mistake 
on the part of their Chan-man to call him out then, as he could not be the 
individual referred to in the sentiment just offered. The old order of 
Butlers, said he, do not afford such refreshment as you demand, and such 
as has been so liberally furnished by those who have preceded me. An 
assembly like this is not satisfied with the product of the wine-press, 



57 

though it moveth itself aright and giveth its color never so bright in the 
cup ; but with thoughts and sentiments that leap living from the heart, 
and these, su", if felt, it is not aWays easy to express. 

But, sir, there are few assemblies that can so well tolerate poor speak- 
ers as this. For tlie occasion itself is eloquent, in the recollections it 
awakens in the minds of not a few present, and in the thoughts it suggests 
to all. From different places we have come together to enjoy this festive 
occasion, to present our congratulations to a venerable Pastor who was 
preaching the Grospel before most of us wore born ; and who witnesses, 
to-day, the completion of a half-century's labors among the people of his 
first and only choice. You have been pleased, Mr. Chairman, while leav- 
ing untouched the name of my office, to change essentially its duties. 
The amendment I gratefully accept. Like Othello's, my old occupation 's 
gone. Our age and world demand labors, however humble, which go 
to swell the stream of those sacred charities that is now irrigating 
and making fruitful the desert and the solitary places. And I con- 
fess, SU', as I have witnessed to-day the effects of fifty years' liibor upon 
the strongest frames, I have felt anew the privilege of living to dissemi- 
nate that Truth which is exempt from frailty, which lives when we die, 
which gathers new strength from that which consumes us, and exhibits an 
ever-freshening youth through the years that bear us to the tomb. Grene- 
rations come and go ; new sjieculations, like the stars, rise and shine and 
disappear ; while that word, by which we stand, like " the glorious con- 
stellation of the North, heads its eternal circle." In the prosecution of 
this work, my willing feet have led me to your sanctuaries and laomes, 
and I will close by expressing the wish, which this acquaintance has exci- 
ted, that the Pastors and people of Brookfield Association, rich as they 
are in the memories and experience of the past, and happy in then* pre- 
sent relations, may, by the occurrence of many occasions like the present, 
attest, in future years, their faithfulness and constancy. 

The following sentiment called up the Rev. Dr. Snell of N. Brook- 
field, as the next speaker : 

TJie Juhilant Patriarchs of the Broohfield Association ; who of 
the sons shall catch a falling mantle ? 
The Doctor replied ; 

Mr. Chairman, I cannot make a speech ; but still I will give utter- 
ance to a few undio-ested thoughts. 

Four things, Sir, I wonder at. I wonder that I have lived so long 



58 

when so unprofitable, and when most of my cotcmporaries are in the 
grave, and the residue leaning upon their staves. 

I wonder that I have lived to preach the gospel more than fifty years, 
with so few and slight interruptions. 

I wonder that I have continued the sole pastor and religious teacher 
of the same church and peq^le more than half a century. 

I wonder that three pastors who started in the ministry ahout the same 
time, located in three contiguous towns, have each continued to preach 
the gospel half a century, and are still here present to-day ; and what 
may well increase my wonder is, that they are all now living with the 
companions of their youth. It is presumed that another such an in- 
stance cannot he found in the United States. Not, however, that I 
would ascribe it to their superior wisdom ; but to the kind providence 
of God, who holds all hearts and events in his all-controUing hand. 

A greater permanency in the pastoral office appears very deskable, 
whether we consider the item of expense, the solicitude and danger of 
church and people, or the moral and religious influence of a long and 
faithful ministry. More than fifty pastors have been settled and dismiss- 
ed within the present limits of the Brookfield Association, since my or- 
dination in 1798 ; and but one has died in office.* 

How such increased permanency can be given to the pastoral relation, 
is no easy question to solve. But, Sir. Chairman, were I allowed to 
throw myself back half a century, and begin anew, I will tell you some 
things I should attempt to do, which might have an influence in my owg 
particular case. 

One is, I would attempt to many the very best young woman I could 
find in the community — a person possessed of a good share of common 
sense, with a good English education, without the fripperies of the age — 
one acquainted with domestic concerns, and that understands the prin- 
ciples of economy — one wlio knows how to treat all sorts of company, 
and who would overcome evil with good, by her propriety of conduct, 
and by her decision and consistency in reljgion, would secure the respect 
and favor of all. 

About the time I commenced housekeeping, some restless sceptics at^ 
tempted to raise a commotion. One of the deacons of my chiu-ch said to 
me, " I hope you will bring a lady amongst lis that will unite us all" — 
and I believe she has done her part in the good work of union and 

* RcT. Mr. Dewey, of Storrsville. 



59 

peace, and may have done more in continuing my pastorate than myself. 

Another thing I would do is, I would acquaint myself with all my 
people, and treat every person as my friend and acquaintance without 
any crustiness. 

Another thing, I would belong to every generation as they rise up 
aroimd me, — to the aged — to the active — to the young, and to the chil- 
dren — in a sense I would be the old man, the man of business, the 
young man and the child ; that none of them may grow away from my 
acquaintance. And I would notice little children, because of their pro- 
spective worth, and to secure their affection and confidence. — Mothers, 
too, love to have their children noticed, and fathers have no serious ob- 
jection to it. 

Another thing : I would punctually attend all my appointments and 
fulfil all my little money and business promises, and thus keep good my 
credit, and let people know on what they can depend. 

Another thing, Mr. Chairman, for I know not when I shall get 
through ; I would visit the sick and afilieted according to my acquaint- 
ance with their wants and circumstances, without a formal messaire, or 
special request. I would bring forth to my people studied sermons, 
unless I should be compelled from scantiness of support to spend a 
large portion of my time and energies to study how I should live. 

One thing more — I would endeavor to secure the favor, respect and 
confidence of the female part of tlie community. My Theological In- 
structor said to me as I left his domicile, " If you secure the favor of 
the women, you need not trouble yourself much about what the men will 
do; for the women by their silent influence govern the world." And 
they do in fact possess more influence than the gentlemen, let them rise 
to what elevation in ofiice they may. 

Another thing I would do is, I would be in no haste to leave my 
people — it is indeed a very serious aflSin — a measure that has many so- 
lemn bearings — deserving much consideration and most grave reflection, 
and may occasion many painful regTets. I would not be scared away — 
would not flee and leave the flock through cowardice ; but, for a rea- 
sonable time, stand my ground and bear some blame and endure some 
straitness, before I would leave my first adopted people. Nor would I 
leave a small place for a large one, till I had actually filled the first, 
and, like the unhatched chick, had burst the shell to find enlargement. 

One other thing I must not suppress ; I would patronize regularly 
bred physicians ; — men of good common sense, of good character, and 



60 

well acquainted with tlicii- profession. It is perfectly preposterous to 
suppose that those who never made the human system and diseases, and 
medicine then* study, should better know what ails the patient, and 
what treatment his case under all the circumstances requires, than 
those who have devoted years to medical study, and observation and 
practice. Health and life are too precious to be sacrificed on the 
shrine of ignorance. I would have no fellowship with ultraism, hum-' 
buggery, c[uackery, mesmerism, and mysterious knoekings — all of a 
sort — the plague of wise men, and the idols of fools. 

But, Mr. Chairman, time would fail to state all I now think that I 
would do to increase the permanency of my pastorate and the peace 
and honor of my people, could I step back one half century, and live 
and act again. But I will give place to others, who can from their 
fuU hearts speak more to the edification of the meeting. 

The venerable father took his seat, having highly gratified the audi- 
ence ; when the President read the following : 

He that is next unto the Three, may he find grace to attain. 

Tliis brought to his feet the Kev. Levi Packard, who has been the 
pastor of the Church in Spencer, twenty-five years ; and is the oldest in 
his settlement in the association, of those who have not had their jubilee. 
Mr. P. remarked, that the sun once stood still on Gibeon, and the moon 
in the valley of Aijalon. The sun hastened not to go down, about a 
whole day. They will not stand still again. "We have the same sun to 
shine upon us to^lay ; the same moon to light our path to-night ; but 
Joshua is not here to command them ; and Israel has passed away. In 
the settlement of a minister fifty years ago, there was a provision for 
a half century sermon. It was in the absence of a provision for a dis- 
mission. Then, to incorporate into the settlement of a minister, a pro- 
vision for his dismission, would have been as unseemly, as to incorporate 
into the marriage ceremony, a provision for a divorce. It is not 
so now. At the time of my settlement, a quarter of a century ago. 
people were careful to provide for the dismission of the men they 
settled. I was settled on the six months' plan ; and if any of you won- 
der, why I did not receive the six months' notice, long since, I would 
say, you do not wonder so nuich, at this, as I do. Permit me to say a 
word to the brethren in the active ministry, and a word to the three aged 
pastors present, and I will sit down. 

Brethren, let us be more solicitous to fill oui* places well, than to 



61 

fill them long ; let us take care of duty, and God will take care of the 
tune. 

Of the three fathers, I would say, there are no three men in the 
world, with whom I have had a more important acquaintance, than with 
them. They have been my intimate friends during the whole of my 
ministry, which has been an important period of my life. And may 
they long conthiue to go up and down among us. And palsied be the 
tongiie — ^yea, let a she bear out of the wood tear that child, who shall 
say to cither of them, " Go up, thou bald head." But when the time 
shall come for them to die, may the Lord take them to Pisgah's top, and 
■let them depart with Canaan fully in view. 

It was now getting rather late, and we had reason to suppose, that 
many who were literally "full of the matter" had left the house with 
excellent speeches not delivered ; and others were leaving. But, ac- 
cording to the sentiment of the last speaker, the smi would not stand 
stiU in Brookfield ; and there was no moon to light our guests to their 
homes. 

At this stage of the festival, the Hon. Secretary of the Commonwealth 
was announced ; and Hon A. Walker of North Brookfield arose and 
said, 

Mr. Chairman ; 

It is now so late, that I am sure you will not expect 
from me any lengthened remarks in answer to the call you have made 
upon me, and I shall only say, that I have felt, since I have been 
present here, that I made a right decision when I concluded to forego 
the pleasure of visitmg one of the most interesting institutions in this 
commonwealth, in company with his excellency, the Governor, for the 
sake of being present on this occasion. I expected to find myself much 
interested in the proceedings which would take place here, and I have 
not been disappointed. I have witnessed scenes which I never expect 
to witness again, which probably no one who is here will ever witness 
again. We have listened, to-day, to the semi-centennial sermon of the 
last of that trio of semi-centennarians who, in three contiguous parishes, 
have, for over half a century, been associated in the labors and respon- 
sibilities of the gospel muiistry — three remarkable men, distinguished, 
not only for their long services, but for theu* talents, their attainments, 
and their great responsibilities. 

It is not, merely, that these men have labored long, but that they 
6 



62 

have labored well, and illustrated in a most remarkable manner, the 
character of the New England clergy of the old school. They belong 
to that class of men, now nearly extinct, who were born and educated 
in the last ceutuiy, and have lived and labored in the present. We look 
upon them as interesting relics of an age gone by, — and of a race of 
men, whose like we shall not again look upon. 

I have said, Mr. Chairman, that these aged clergymen were men of 
distinguished talent, and I will add, that if either of them had engaged 
in any other profession m life, than the one they chose, and in which 
they have done so well, they would have been successful. Had the 
gentleman before us who has been longest in the ministry (Rev. Dr. 
Fiske) adopted the legal profession, he could scarcely have failed to be- 
come one of the most eminent jurists of the state ; and the man whom 
we now so much venerate as a clergyman, we should probably have had 
occasion to revere as a distinguished judge. He has ever been remark- 
able for his logical mind, his accurate perception of truth, his sound 
logic, his good judgment, his dignity of manners, and stern probity, 
and such a man would have adorned the bar or the bench, as truly as 
he has the pulpit. 

It is one of the earliest recollections of my childhood, that I have 
heard my father say, that " Mr. Stone "uas one of the bes^t scholars of the 
Association," and, sir, I could not but feel to-day, when I was listen- 
ing to his excellent scnnon, that the reputation which our venerable 
friend acquu"ed in his earlier days, he has fully sustained in his old age. 
Why, su', have we not all been delighted with the pui-ity of his style, 
and the elegance of his diction 'i For myself, sir, I must confess that I 
have tliis day been deeply impre^sscd with the con\dction, that if he had 
devoted himself to belles lettres, instead of theology, he would have 
been distinguished in the highest walks of literature. And the re- 
maining one of this venerable gToup, (Eev. Dr. Snell) would not he 
have been eminent in almost any other profession, as well as the minis- 
try? I tliink we all feel that he would. The characteristics of his 
mind, like that of the others, are strongly marked. I maybe influenced 
somewhat by that partiality which any one may be supposed to feel for a 
minister, under whom he has grown up to manhood, and to whose 
preaching he has listened for the greater part of half a century, but it 
seems to me, tliat our venerable friend to whom I now allude, is a man 
who has ever been greatly distiugiiished for his strong good sense, for his 
great shrewdness and tact, for the uniformity of his life, his self-corn- 



63 

mand and dignity of deportment, for his gi-eat economy of time and 
money, and yet for his liberal expenditure of both in doing good ; for 
his untiring industry on his farm, and in his study — for the systematic, 
faithful and cautious manner in which he has discharged all his duties as 
a man and a minister ; in short, for all those talents and elements of 
character which command respect, secure influence and guarantee suc- 
cess ; and which, in civil life, might carry a man to the chau- of the 
chief magistracy of the commonwealth. 

Sir, I repeat, it is not that we have met here to-day three very aged 
m inisters, but, that we have met three very distinguished men, men who 
have done much to advance the moral and intellectual interests of this 
community. And do we not rejoice, on this festive occasion, to tender 
them our grateful acknowledgements ? I am sure, sir, we shall join as 
one man, in rendering them our heartfelt thanks ; in wishing them yet 
many days of serene and tranquil enjoyment, while looking back with 
pleasing reminiscences of the past, and forward with a well-founded hope 
of a glorious immortality. 

It was now high time to notice the ladies, whose hands and hearts are 
equally in every good cause ; and Dea. J. S. Montague volunteered, in 
reply, on then- behalf, to the following, "I entreat thee, true yoke fel- 
low, help those women that labored with me in the Gospel." 

Mr. President; 

I am always pleased to have the ladies brought 
into favorable notice, especially when we are as much indebted to them, 
as on the present occasion — and, altho' it might be well for me to exer- 
cise a little more of Elihu's modesty, by waiting till all those who are 
older than myself have spoken ; still, as responses seem to be the order 
of the day, and as no one else seems inclined to occupy the present 
moment, I wiU venture a word or two. 

It is sometimes difficult, Mr. President, to speak to the ladies, and it 
can hardly be otherwise than'difflcult to speak ybr them, especially when 
we consider with what readiness they are, generally, able to speak for 
themselves. 

Doubtless, sir, there are scores of ladies present, who, if they felt 
that this was the time and place, could respond to the sentiment just 
given, much more ably and appropriately than I can ; but as probably 
they do not (the time for public speaking on then- part, having not yet 



64 

quite arrived, at least wltli us, wo being somewhat "behind the times") 
I will in their behalf hazard the assumption that whatever may have 
been done by them, either ])y those who were associated with oiu* vener- 
able father, (^Dr. I suppose I may call him now) has been done cheer- 
fully and heartily, not by constraint, as we, sir, too often do things, 
but willingly and of a ready mind, as may always be said of them in 
reference to their deeds of charity and acts of mercy. 

I regret, su*, that I cannot speak particularly of those who were co- 
tem])orary with Mr. Stone at the time of his settlement, but as I did 
not live in Brookfield fifty years ago, I can only judge of them by those 
thoy have handed down to us, and the/eiy who remain, and they are 
hwifew, but two or three having been present to day, and probably not 
one is present at this time. Most of them have " fallen asleep" — peace 
be to their memory — we trast, to adopt his own language in reference 
to them at another time, " that they are walking with Christ in white, 
for they were worthy." 

His companion, as has been stated, still lives, but, more feeble and 
infirm than himself, is not only unable to participate in the festivities of 
the present occasion, but has, for years, been denied the privilege of 
attending public worship on the Sabbath. She demands, and I trust, 
will share our sympathies and prayers. 

Of " those women who labored with him in the gospel," at a more sub- 
sequent period, "when days were dark, and friends were few," I have 
good authority for saying, they were such as stood firm and unwavering, 
when others faltered or turned back — that they were not ashamed of the 
Grospel of Christ and its reproaches, nor of the worship of the Triune 
God, though in an " upper room," and under chcumstauces by no means 
flattering to the pride of the natural heart. 

And as to their more outwai'd acts, I was interested in the allusion in 
the sermon, to-day, to the Dorcases, wlio furnished their Pastor with some 
" needful garments," at a time when others apparently forgot liim. This 
illustrates, not only what they then were, but what we always find them 
— the same now as in the days of Peter — ' ' full of good works and alms 
deeds" (I believe it says) — clergymen will excuse me if I do not quote 
correctly. 

But to allude briefly to those who labor with us in the gospel and its 
various accompaniments. Of them it is needless to speak. They 
and their works speak for themselves, in terms more significant and 
commendatory than I command. We all know how much we are in- 



65 

debtcd to tlicm on tlic present occasion. Wliy, sir, it is to them that wc 
owe in no small degree, all we are permitted to enjoy, and all the results 
which may be expected from this days' operations. But for them, these 
tables could not liave been loaded, as they were a short time since — this 
room would not have been decorated — that beautiful icreath would not 
have been formed, nor this curiously wrought article [a cross of moss] in 
which nature and art, instead of striving for the ascendancy, are so inge- 
niously and beautifully blended, as to exclude controversy or emulation. 
This, too, as abeady intimated, is the work of female hands. Designed, 
executed and brought here by one, who, though not now a resident among 
us, once sustained a near and interesting relation to this Church and peo- 
ple — who still feels a lively interest in then- welfare, and who, I hazard 
nothing in saying, will ever be held by them in grateful and affectionate 
remembrance. [Mrs. Whiting.] But I shall be too lengthy in my re- 
marks, aiid will close by a sentiment suggested by the significant motto 
upon the article just noticed, and also encircled by the wreath before- 
mentioned. And here I may remark, that it is an interesting co-inci- 
dence, that they should be the same, they having no knowledge of each 
other till brought together this morning. 

" 1801 & 1851" seems to indicate an intimate connection between 
the two periods of time. What that connection is, the occasion demon- 
strates. But this very naturally gives rise to another thought, which is, 
that there is to be another period of fifty years. There will be a 1901, 
when, if we have no semi-centennial celebrations, (as I very much fear 
we shall not have,) there will be labor to be performed — deeds of charity 
and acts of mercy to be planned and executed, which will bring in requi- 
sition willing hearts and active hands, the same as now j and perhaps I can 
close in no better way than by saying, — 

Ladies of 1851 — ^may they bequeath to those of 1901, an inheri- 
tance as valuable as they have received from the mothers of 1801. 

Tlie original tnemhers of this Church and Society, at home and 
uhroad ; they have known, from first to last, how the shoulder feels, un- 
der the bm-dens of a feeble parish. 

To this sentiment, Wm. Howe, Esq. replied, 

Mr. President ; If I would be a faitliful representative of my honored 
father and beloved sistor, who, it will be conceded, took a deep interest in 
and made many sacrifices for the cause we have endeavored to sustain ; 
also of the other departed ones, as well as of the living, among whom our 
venerable and respected senior pastor is most prominent, I, certainly, 
6* 



should not fail, however inadec|uatc I may be, to attempt at least to re- 
spond to this sentiment. 

Without attempting to magnify, in the least, I will simply say, that I 
regard all the facts connected with the subject, as comprising a veiy little 
page, in the history of a providential superintendence and control of the 
affairs of men. 

And now, sir, I will remark very briefly, that, though Providence did, 
■evidently, require of the persons alluded to in the sentiment, to place 
;their shoulders to what are generally regarded as great burdens, yet 
many, if not all of them, doubtless, could testify, that they bore a yoke 
which was easy, and a burden which was light ; for while the Lord made 
it their duty and their privUege to place their jewels upon the altar from 
one hand, he was constantly filling, with his beneficence, the other hand. 

And then, sir, they have had the additional encouragement, arising 
from the evidences and fruits of a bright example. Though they have 
not had the same demonstrations of the Divine presence, power and good- 
ness, which were exhibited by the great leader of Israel ; though their 
Moses has not, literally, smote upon the rock and drawn water there- 
from, and divided the Red Sea, nor has he, literally, absented himself, 
for forty successive days, to converse with the IMost High in the IMount ; 
yet having, as they trust, been visited, daily, by the Father of Spirits, 
in his own abode, as well as, at intervals, in the sanctuary ; the face of 
his christian character has been made to shine, reflecting the divine im- 
age ; and in the place of mu'aeulous demonstrations, he has exhibited 
those proofs which while they were of a more practical nature, they were 
not the less satisfactory in reference to the Divine existence and perfec- 
tions ; at once affording a bright light to his people, producing addition- 
al motives to place their shoulders to the burdens. 

And now, sir, let me add, for the departed and for the living, that the 
latter can even now say, and much more in the gi-eat day of final account, 
do we hope and trust that all of them will be able to say, that they did 
not labor m vain, nor spend their strength for nought ; but that it was 
infinitely better for them to have placed their jewels upon the altar, than 
to have made them into a moulten calf. 



67 

At the close of the remarks at the table, the following hymn, by Mrs. 
L. H. SiGOURNEY, was sung by the choir. 

THE JUBILANT PATRIAECHS. 

Give honor to the hoary head, 

With heavenly wisdom crown'd, 
That through the grace of God, doth shed 

A pure exaniple round. 

Give honor to the upright heart, 

By years and changes prov'd ; 
That still hath sought the righteous part, 

And still the Savour lov'd. 

Give praise to him, whose hand hath led. 

Whose Spirit deign'd to guide 
The Shepherds, who their flocks have fed 

SalvatioH 's stream beside ; 

Preserved them, vi^hen the shafts of death 

Flew all resistly by. 
To lift for us the prayerful breath. 

And point our souls on high. 

Still may His blessing cheer their cares, 

And guard their faith from fears ; 
Until that glorious Life is theirs. 

Which knows no change of years. 

Thus closed the services of a day, which had been anticipated with 
deep interest, was enjoyed witli unalloyed pleasm-e, and which, we trust, 
will be long remembered by all present. 



BENEDICTION. 

By Rev. Mr. BUSHNELL, Agent of the Seamen's Cause. 



INVOCATION HYMN. 

By a Member of the Congregation. 

Lord, in thy temple we appear, 
With hymns of grateful joy ; 

Now let thy presence greet us here, 
And bless this day's employ. 

Here doth thine aged servant come, 
Our father's guide and ours; 

To this — a refuge and a home, 
In his declining hours. 

When youthful vigor nerv'd his frame, 

And fir'd his thoughtful eye, 
He trusted in the Saviour's name, 
Whose aid was ever nigh. 



68 

Since, then, his eyes have gladly seen 
Thy great salvation -wrought, 

Grant' him thine arm, on which to lean, 
And spealc what thou hast taught. 

So when the night of death shall come, 

And he is called away, 
Oh ! then receive thy servant home, 

To realms of endless day. 



appe:^dix. 

Extracts of liCtters written in reference to the Occa- 
sion. 

Leicester, March 8, 1851. 

Dear Sir ; I had anticipated with great pleasure being present on the an- 
ticipated interesting occasion of Mr. Stone's Semi-centennial Jubilee. My 
high respect for him personally and the sympathy I have felt with the church 
and people under his care, increase my desire to enjoy the opportunity of 
giving expression to both. 

But I regret to say, feebleness of health and peculiar susceptibility of in- 
jury from public and exciting occasions, must be my excuse foi being absent 
in body where, if my life is spared, I shall be present in spirit. 

Allovr me, my dear friend, through you, to tender my congratulations to 
the venerable Pastor and his lady, and to express my thanksgiving to God, 
that three of the brethren of the I3rookfield Association to which I had the 
happiness of belonging for many years, and to which I have ever felt the 
strongest attachment, have been spared, together with their wives, beyond 
this half century. Very truly yours, 

JOHN NELSON. 



Andover, Feb. 27, 1851. 

My DEAR Friend ; It would be most gratifying to me to comply with the 
invitation contained in your letter. — By my present circumstances, particular- 
ly my health, I am cut off from that privilege. 

I have long had the most hearty respect and affection for Mr. Stone, and 
should delight to be present at the interesting time specified. God has dealt 
kindly with" him through a long life, and will, I doubt not, continue to give 
him the best enjoyments which can be had on earth, and far higher enjoy- 
ments in the world to which he is going. — Remember me most affectionately 
to him and Mrs. Stone, and tell Mr. Stone I hope the blessing of God will 
rest upon him on the approaching occasion. His sermon on the former oo- 
casion I read with very great satisfaction. 

Truly Yours, 

LEONARD WOODS. 



East Granville, March 11, 1851. 

My dear Brother ; I beg leave to return my sincere thanks for the cour- 
teous invitation from the committee of arrangements, to attend the Celebration 
on the 11th inst. I feel a tender and fraternal interest in this anniversary of 



69 

your estimable and excellent pastor, nor can I fail to appreciate the high and 
honorable Christian character of the Church of Christ in South Brookfield, in 
sitting under the supervision of the same pastor, for the past entire half cen- 
tury, until quite recently. It has been my expectation to be with you and 
participate in your joys. Official duties, not to be neglected or postponed, 
compel me to decline your grateful invitation. May the Lord bless you and 
keep you. — If I may express the sentiment of my own heart, it shall be as 
follows : 

The venerable Senior Pastor of the Church in South Brookfield ; whatever 
clouds and darkness may have overspread his morning, meridian or eventide 
— his setting sun will shine bright ! ! 

With great respect and affection, yours in the fellowship of 
the Gospel, 

TIMOTHY MATHER COOLEY. 

Worcester, March 9, 1851. 

Dear Sir : I have delayed replying to your kind note of the 1st Feb. in- 
viting me to be present at your semi-centennial celebration, till the present 
time, in the hope that something might turn up which would render it possi- 
ble for me to accept it. But it now turns out that I shall be in the midst of 
a case on the 11th, and I cannot come. 

We doubtless owe much of this conservative influence to our schools, and 
the general diffusion of knowledge, and the progress of social refinement, but 
to nothing do we owe this so much as to the clergy and the church. With- 
out some such regulator in the social machine, I am at a loss to conjecture 
where the modern rage for " reform" and overturn would carry us. It seems 
to be the spirit of the day to make war upon old opinions, as being old preju- 
dices, and to improve upon Revelation as being something which remained 
incomplete till these lights of the" 19th Century," a very wise century, doubt- 
less, shed their lustre upon what the Bible left in the dark ! 

What confirms me in this impression, is the fact that almost every " re- 
former," when he begins, finds it necessary to attack the pulpit and the 
church, as standing in the way of his progress. Fanny Wright, Robert 
Owen, Socialism, and most other of the isms of the day, seem to think the 
world never can be reformed till these priests are put down, the pulpit silenc- 
ed, and a better revelation substituted than they have preached. 

Now I don't think so. I detest priestcraft, but such a priesthood as has 
distinguished the congregational churches ot Massachusetts, has in my judg- 
ment, done more to strengthen and consolidate our governmental institutions, 
as a free state, than any one cause. 

Very respectfully, 

Your friend and ob't serv't., 

EMORY WASHBURN. 

Numerous other letters, of similar import with these, were sent to the com- 
mittee of correspondence, but are suppressed for want of room. They were 
addressed to Rev. W. A. Nichols, Com. of Correspondence. 



70 
OFFICERS OF THE ORGANIZATION. 



President of the Day, - - REV. 1¥. A. NICHOLS. 

Committee of Arrangements. 
REV. W. A. NICHOLS, I MR, WM. HOWE, 

MR. SAMUEL C. SMITH, | MR. SUMNER BARTLETT, 

DEA. J. S. MONTAGUE, 

Chief Marshal. 
LUTHER CARKIN. 

Assistant Marshals. 
LUTHER ELACEMER, I JOHN DURANT, 

S. C, SMITH, I T. W. CHAPMAN, 

E, M. MORRELL. 



SUB-COMMITTEES. 
1st. — Committee on raising Funds. 

REV, W, A. NICHOLS, | MR. SUMNER BARTLETT, 

JOHN DURANT, 

2d. — Committee on furnishing food and drink for the Table. 

DEA. J. S, MONTAGUE, I LUTHER CARKIN, 

T, W. CHAPMAN, I DEA, CALVIN JENNINGS. 

3d, — Committee on Dining Room, Tables and Table Furniture, and gen- 
eral arrangements of Dining Room. 

WM, HOWE, I H. D. FALES, | J, P. CHENEY. 

4th. — Committee on Seating the Audience. 

S, C. SMITH, I T. W. CHAPMAN, | EBEN. MORELL. 

5th. — Committee on Music. 

J. P, CHENEY, J J, S, MONTAGUE, 

NATH'l, H. MORRELL, | J. L, AINSWORTH. 

6th. — Committee to confer ivith Rev. Mr. Stone, upon Order of Exercises. 

REV. W, A. NICHOLS, | REV. SAM'l. HUTCHINGS, 

MR, LUTHER BLACKMER. 

Besides the gentlemen abovenamed, many others entered cheerfully, and 
labored most faithfully in the various departments of the organization. And 
the ladies, from first to last, with heart and hand, prosecuted every depart- 
ment falling within their sphere, we had almost said, right manfaWy ; but it 
was even more than this, as no 7nen could have filled their places, in the com- 
pletion of the scheme. 

The Music of the day was conducted by J, P, Cheney, Esq. leader of the 
Choir, and to those present, the performances themselves spoke their own 
commendation better than any volunteer can do it. 

Many gentlemen came prepared to entertain us with their eloquent words, 
and sound sentiments, who, for want of time, could not be called up. And 
here they will allow us to say, that we have now on hand nearly sentiments 
enough laid away, as specimens to dry for future use, for another festival, 
should occasion call for them ; and if our kind guests, who went away with 
Bpeechea undelivered, will come again at our next semi-centennial, we shall 
be ready to greet them with toasts well ripened, and we promise them priori- 
ty in the use of the floor. 



71 

(B) The first Rev. Gentlemen who came to preach upon the subject, 
when, at an interview wliich I had with him, I observed that the people of 
the parish were generally united in religious views, and I hoped that no at- 
tempt would be made to divide them, made answer, that he had prepared a 
sermon for the purpose of telling or informing them luhat Unilarianism loas, 
and that he intended to deliver it. 

One of the most intelligent, and a leading member of the parish, not long 
after, inquired of me, if 1 could inform him of some author, that could ex- 
plain or inform him of the Unitarian doctrines. 

(C) The more prominent one, whom they afterwards settled, was not then 
to be obtained. 

(D) William Howe, William Howe, jr., Calvin Jennings, Reuben Haynes, 
Luke Parsons, Henry Reed, and Micah Stone. 

The original cost of the building was $2,703,16. The Subscriptions at 
home and abroad amounted to $ 1,878,91 ; leaving a debt on the building 
committee, of $824,25, for which they gave their joint note. This, after 
seven years, they divided among them, and paid, except that three of them 
Messrs. C. Jennings, H. Reed and L. Parsons, received alike the avails of a 
subscription obtained for that purpose, amounting to $266. 

(E) Lmvsuil, and loss of Church Furniture. 

In the beginning of 1828, about the time of commencing the building of 
our meeting house, a suit was instituted by H. Stebbins, Esq., deacon of the 
Unitarian church, against Dea. Calvin Jennings, for our church furniture, 
consisting of six silver tankards, and other vessels of less value. 

By some it may be thought injudicious, that in our feeble and embarassed 
condition, we should undertake to contest the right of holding the furniture. 
■ — Undoubtedly we should have done dilierently, had the poivcr of (he parishes, 
and the legal rights of the churches been better understood. Ours was a novel 
case, undecided by a judicial decision — involving the trying alternative to which 
every other church in the Commonwealth, as well as ours, is liable, either to 
continue to worship with the parish under a ministry imposed by the parish 
against its remonstrance, with which it could not fellowship ; or, by separat- 
ing from the parish, not only forfeit all right and title to its meeting house, 
but be obliged to give up with its name, its furniture and church records ; 
and thus to become as though it never had been. This the church, unfortu- 
nately, with many intelligent men, did not believe that the law respecting 
church rights required. It was supposed, that in ecclesiastical affairs, a ma- 
jority of the church was the church, as in other communities. To this pur- 
port was the able and learned plea of L. Strong, Esq., for the defendant. 
And it was not but by the advice of able and judicious lawyers and divines, 
after much deliberation on the subject, and after receiving a pledge of assist- 
ance in carrying on the suit, from two associations of ministers, that the de- 
termination was taken. — Thusbelieving, counselled and encouraged, the pas- 
tor took the entire charge of the case. Neither Deacon Jennings nor the 
Church took any share of the labor, or paid any part of the expense. 

After four years, in the course of its adjudication, the case was decided by 
the Judges of the Supreme Court against the defendant, and the church furni- 
ture, with the records of the church, was given up to the plaintiff, with an ex- 
pense incurred, of $ 137,90. This was defrayed in the following manner, viz : 
By the members of the Brookfield Aassociation $5 each, - $45,00 
By the Church in Pittsfield, through the instrumentality 

of Miss Martha Tufts, then resident there - . - - - 42,00 

By Miss Tufts' contribution, 5,00 

By the pastor - ....._.-- 45,90 

$ 137,90 



72 

For the benefit of the churches, as far as this publication may extend, that 
they may know the hgal relation in which they stand to the parishes with 
which they are connected, the following exposition of the existing law, as 
given byCh. J. Shaw, in the Brookfield case, is inserted : 

" If a church is rightly described as an association of all or part of the 
members of a religious society, and united for the celebration of christian or- 
dinances, it is necessarily incident to and inseparably connected with such 
parish or religious society, which is a corporation, with perpetual succession ; 
and the perpetual existence and identity of the church is ascertained and iden- 
tified by such corporation. Even should eveiy member of an existing church 
die, or remove, it would be competent for the other members of the parish, or 
religious society, to associate themselves for the purpose of celebrating the 
Christian ordinances ; or, in the language of the early days of New England, 
to gather a church ; and such associated body would possess all the powers 
and privileges of the church- of such parish, and would be ligitimate succes- 
sors of the former church, to the same extent as if no suspension or interrup- 
tion in the rej^ular succession and continuity of the body had taken place. 
Such a body would have the power of electing deacons, and when elected, by 
force of the statute, all property, real or personal, which had been held by 
their predecessors, or given to the church, would vest in such deacons." 

(F) The following donations have been made to the Evangelical Society : 
A Christening fount, by Mrs. Nancy Howe, relict of Mr. O. Howe ; since 

married to Rev J. Vail, of Somers. 

A Bell for the Meeting House, (600 lb. weight), by Messrs Jabez Howe, 
Geo. Howe, and Samuel Johnson, of Boston. 

An Astral Lamp for the Pulpit, and nine others for the body of the church, 
by W. B. Banister, Esq., of Newburyport. 

The basement story of the Meetinghouse was gratuitously finished for a 
Vestry, by Mr. William Howe, sen., and his son, Hon. F. Howe, at an ex- 
pence of $10-2,23. 

A pair of elegant lamps for the Pulpit were procured and presented by 
Rev. L. Whiting, when the junior pastor. An elegant Bible and Psalm 
Book for the Pulpit, were presented to the Church by Mr. Daniel Whiting, 
sen., and Mrs. Phebe Whiting, of North Brookfield, the parent of Rev. L. 
Whiting. 

A bequest of $200 was made by the late Mrs. Sarah Hovcy, by which the 
church was repaired, and its Clock purchased. 

A donation of $30 was made by Rev. W. A. Nichols, by which the floor 
of the Church was carpeted. 

(G) Colleague Pastors. — Rev. Richard Woodruff, settled Feb. 5, 1834; 
closed his ministry, April 1st, 1838. 

Rev. W. A. Nichols, ordained Sept. 12, 1838 ; closed his ministerial la- 
bors in the autumn of 1842 ; dismissed by Ecclesiastical Council, Jan. 11th, 
1813. 

Rev. Lyman Whiting, ordained Jan. 11, 1843. He closed his ministry, 
March 28th, 1847. 

Rev. Samuel Hutchings, installed Sept. 15, 1847. — His connection with 
the Church and Society dissolved by an Ecclesiastical Council, April 7, 1851. 

(H) Mrs. Julia Upham Wood, daughter of Edward Upliam, Esq., late of 
Northampton, and relict of Mr. T. N. Wood, late of Cambridge. 



C:^ERR£TA.—P&ge 28, at bottom, read 21 for 41.— At page 35, line 16, 
for remembered, read numbered. 




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